Knight Away
by hatten-jc
Summary: Xander meets two powerful beings and goes on a long journey
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Knight away.  
Fiction: Knight away.  
This is part of the Knight away story.  
Author: John "hatten" Carlsson  
Beta: Corwin Verner (Hawklan)  
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Or so I claim, except, maybe a strange sense of humor.  
X-over: Probably many. But first is Buffy (which belongs to Joss Whedon) and Star Wars (George Lucas).  
PS: I do not like the Yuuzhan Vong and the whole story is AU and doesn't follow any canon.

Note from Hawklan: Hello all I'm posting this story here with the permission of Hatten and we both hope you will enjoy it the same as we did.  
Also we wouldn't mind a beta reader. I fixed the story as good as i could but i surely missed grammar and such things.

Note2: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable.

Chapter 1-0

Xander sighed. Ever since the LIE and Angel's banishment to hell, he had felt like something was coming, something bad.

At first Buffy had been angry, really murderingly angry at him. Then she talked to Giles and Xander had no idea what the Watcher had said to the slayer, but it was a calmer Buffy that confronted him and asked him why he had lied to her.

He told her the truth. That he had been deadly afraid that she would hold back against Angelus, like she had before and that this time it would mean the end of the game for all of them.

Buffy had looked him in the eye, almost spookily calm, trying to find a lie or even a tiny fragment of a lie, but apparently whatever she saw made her nod her head. "You did the right thing Xander. Right now I hate you for that. It's petty and cruel of me. I would have hold back against him. All I saw was Angel" she sighed. "I hope you can forgive me for being petty and cruel" she said, smiling a bit and the tears in her eyes felt like daggers in his heart.

Xander said "Nothing to forgive Buffy. It was like doing something bad, or letting something even worse happen. You know what I choose to do even if I don't like it. Ever since Jessie I HATE vampires, even Deadboy. But HE is, was, a hero and I respect that" he said to her, looking down on the ground.

She giggled a bit, tears still in her eyes, as she smiled at him. "Thanks" she said. "Strange, I know Angel would be angry with me right now, because he would have done the same thing you did. You do know that I love you and Willow." the young Slayer said before running away.

It was the last time they saw her. For the whole summer she was gone and Willow, Oz, Cordelia and him were forced to fight the vampires and demons alone.

Now, months later, she was back. They had been so happy and Buffy had even taken the chance to talk to him alone. She had forgiven him and even said thanks.

But the feeling of wrongness was getting stronger and stronger.

When it finally happened, it was like something out of Battlestar Galactica or even Star Trek. Suddenly the skies darkened in the middle of the day and a strange shadow was seen above the whole planet. The Astronomer's and NASA where baffled.

Then the news told them, that one million humans had vanished from New York. Just like that. The next thing that vanished was the gold in Fort Knox. In a second the USA was bankrupt.

Xander just knew he would be next. As he walked into the library, he nodded. "Yo here I am, what's the what G-man?" he said grinning. Never forget a good smile to make the others forget their own fears.

Giles sighed: "Can't you take anything seriously?" he said. Silently hoping the boy would keep doing exactly what he was doing.

Xander frowned. "Maybe, but nah." he said, grinning. "So what will vanish next? Homework?" he finished in a hopeful voice.

Buffy giggled. "I wish."

While Giles cleaned his glasses, he answered "In fact it's snowing in Africa and apparently a new volcano appeared outside of Berlin," Then he fell silent. And just stared in shock, seeing beings of power suddenly teleporting into the library.

Buffy froze in shock and Willow was trembling, because the pure power they were pouring out was overpowering her new and still weak skills as a witch. Oz blinked. "I am impressed," he simply said, to which Cordelia just nodded.

On the other side of the room, the Angel and the Arch-demon frowned at Oz. They were  
not used seeing such a lack of expression and reaction from mortals.

Xander eyes where almost falling out of his head as he screamed out "Holy trinity." They were now frowning and looking directly at him. Not good. "Um, it was Giles that said that," he tried.

The Angel spoke with a voice like music. "We have a problem. Far away in an alternate reality, outside OUR realm of responsibility, a group of greedy fools has found a powerful cross dimensional artifact, which they are using right now to plunder earth of its riches."

The voice from the demon was like claws on a black board, painful to listen to. "Every time they use that artifact, they risk destroying the entire Sol system. Both sides, Good as well as Evil, have invested a lot of time an effort in you mortals and more importantly, in this world." Its body and head were perfect, but it still looked all wrong, like a perversion of perfection. Just looking at the demon made you feel like your eyes could never be clean again.

The Angel nodded; its perfect head was beautiful, perfectly shaped, and made it look friendly, yet deadly dangerous. "The only way we can stop this is to send a mortal that is NOT bound by faith."

Buffy said, "Alright I'll go."

The Demon answered to that. "He said NOT bound by faith. So no Slayer, witch or watcher can go. Only the werewolf, the cheerleader and," he smiled cruelly, "the White Knight. The One That Sees, the Breaker of Destiny and Champion of Chaos can go."

Xander asked in surprise: "Me? I'm a Champion of Chaos? Are you sure Ethan Rayne is not the one you are talking about?" The power of these beings made the Master look cute and cuddly.

The Angel nodded. "It is you, who we would prefer, if you accept the burden. Not because you are stronger then Oz, but because you have the best chance to finding your way home."

The Demon said: "You are also the one that has the greatest chance of succeeding. We can boost your powers. Give you the power of the Hyena without the side effects. Even grant you some power from the Sea-Demons DNA that the swim coach gave you."

Buffy and the others looked and felt helpless. The power of the Demon and Angel was overwhelming them.

The Angel said, "Correct, if Oz were to go, we could offer him control over the wolf, nothing more. But you have a lot of mystical changes in your body already, Alexander. We can change the memory of the soldier which possessed you, so that you have the basic skills you need to survive. This is a one way journey and we have no way of returning you here, if you accept this."

The demon snorted. "I don't care if you come back. I just care that you save the Sol-system and Earth. I have billions of souls that could escape my hell if earth is destroyed. That's MY reason for granting you power. If you fail, you and your friends are doomed." He grinned. "So who is going to be exiled, the werewolf or the White Knight?"

Xander sighed. "I knew getting up from bed today was a bad idea. I'll go if you get Angel back from hell and give me the strength of the fish and hyena and the skills from the soldier. Before I go, I need time to say goodbye to my friends."

The Angel nodded. "We have four hours before the next attack begins. You'll have to be fast."

The Demon snorted. "Right."

The Angel smiled. "He is right, Brother Lucifer. We are banishing a Champion of Chaos to save ourselves and a Champion of Light will be returned in his place. A price is paid and a balance is struck."

Outside, Cordelia grabbed Xander. "What are you doing, you dork?" she asked.

Xander smiled. "I thought you broke up with me?" he asked, before kissing and hugging her close to him. "I'm saving all of us. It's what I do," he said, leaving the still weak kneed Cordelia behind him.

"Damn him," she panted, but what a kiss that was. She would not cry, no way, he had cheated on her with Willow, so no way.

It took Xander only an hour and he was back. He had emptied his mom's and dad's secret jewellery stash and stolen his dad's gun, a big magnum. Without a word he grabbed an axe and a short sword from Giles' weapons rack. He also took a backpack with food and two military combat knifes in the back. He was done.

"Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, come here. There's just one thing I wanted to say to you, before I go."

The three girls walked over to him and he did not bother to say anything, he just grabbed Cordelia and kissed her like she was the queen of the universe.

While Cordelia was still seeing stars, he kissed Buffy like she was the Saviour of the universe, leaving a weak kneed slayer behind him before he grabbed Willow, kissing her like she was the Goddess that created the universe.

He gave Oz a nod. "See you later brother," he said. Turning to Giles, "G-man, I hope you know that you are everything I ever wanted in a father. Thanks Dad, and get a new car. You have the money. Besides you have to. I put your car on fire. Mr. Angel, Mr. Demon, let's go."

The two higher beings blinked. Outside the library a tiny car was burning "So be it." They spoke as one and Xander could feel the hyena's power racing through his body and his lungs switching and growing in size, his muscles become tighter and more powerful as his DNA changed. His mind was filling it up with knowledge, new instincts, and the basic information that he would need, and then the world vanished.

Giles blinked, "Thank you son." Then he blinked again. "What, wait, my car...?"

Oz looked at the girls who were still gone and in dreamland. That was ONE hell of a kiss. They still looked happy and a bit stupid with a dreamy happy look on their faces. "I wish I was a girl." He said, just joking. Behind him a vengeance demon giggled. "Wish granted..."

+++

Around him the universe buckled and twisted, as the laws of nature, physics and biology both mystical and mundane, changed in nature and form. Like a force of nature Xander crashed out from a hole in reality and landed gracefully like a cat on a gigantic mushroom like tree.

He felt stronger then before and, taking a quick look over his own body, he noticed his arms and legs were like steel, packed full with muscle like an elite fighter would have. In the polished blade of his knife he could see that his eyes were flashing softly green and yellow to the beat of his heart. His hands could feel tiny gills on his neck. "They lied. The assholes lied. I'm a fish," he whined. Then he frowned, would it really matter here?

Looking around he felt it. A strange flash of light and energy that made the hair on his neck stand on end, coming from over there, without even thinking he was gone. All it took was one leap and he was airborne. Jumping between the strange mushroom like trees, before climbing down to the ground and then running as fast as his legs could carry him.

To most humans it would have looked like a green blur was moving between the shadows of the trees.

The power build-up was gigantic and, as he arrived in the centre of an old ruin, he saw a strange ring shaped machine with two monoliths standing beside it. In between the monoliths he could see a holographic image of earth.

Strange, demonlike beings where everywhere around the machine, a big snaillike freak was in the middle near a control station. Ugly, piglike monsters were standing guard a bit further away.

Xander watched. He saw what he needed and what he could do to destroy the machine. He suspected that the strange chamber that pulsed with an interior light was some kind of power generator and a bullet in that would probably be bad. Near him there was one of the ugly pigs with an axe in his hands, a good one, bigger than his own axe. Taking up his magnum he aimed at the power generator.

PANG, all the freaks looked up, trying to find the source of the thundering sound.  
PANG, the Fusion Generator cracked.  
PANG, the piglike monster's head suddenly exploded.

Xander quickly put the gun away and moved, while rushing away he quickly ran to the pig and grabbed the axe before running deeper into the thick jungle. Behind him the snaillike monster looked at the power-generator. "BooShooda Na sha," he screamed in Huttese. Like a green blur Xander rushed away, dodging behind a rock when the world suddenly turned white and burning hot as flames of plasma destroyed everything in its path.

Hours later...

"Ouch. Ouch." Xander whined as he stood up. The jungle was destroyed, well some of it at least. The part near the ruin and the dimension machine was pretty much gone. His jacket and pants were burned, but at least he had a new axe.

Going back he found out that the machine was not completely destroyed. Frowning Xander walked to the survivors. The snail being was alive. "Fee. If I could only find a French cook, I would be rich." Xander said, looking at the freakish being. It looked back with a look of surprise and perhaps fear, at Xander's green and yellow eyes, the beat of his heart still causing a pulsing in the barely noticeable glow.

". Hutt Goro. MaShee rekona," it said.

Xander frowned, "So you're Goro the Hutt and you would reward me IF I help you." He frowned; knowledge about languages apparently was a part of the upgrade package the unholy duo gave him.

Xander grinned. "Did you know that it was MY planet you and your friends were plundering?" He asked with a wicked smile on his lips as he pushed a button on the axe, which suddenly started to purr with an evil sound.

Goro screamed "No no." With a splat the vibroaxe cut the snails head in half.

A moment later Xander frowned, that was stupid. He was now mostly alone, only a handful of the Hutt hired help were still alive. Looking around, he walked up to another soldier and found something which looked like a gun. Grabbing it, he frowned as his hands apparently knew what it was. Safe setting, unsafe, and trigger, a burst of plasma flashed out from the blaster as Xander grinned, taking the blaster.

Instinctively understanding of basics of the object, Xander thought it was a blaster. Probably a heavy gun, but he had no idea if it was a good one or not.

Digging around, he finally found something that felt like explosives to him. At least that was what his hands were telling him. The idea of making a mistake felt bad. It almost made him afraid, which was good. Whatever this round ball was, it would create a BIG explosion.

+++

With google eyes Xander looked at the hole where the machine once stood. "That was a BIG boom." A thermal detonator, his mind whispered, a micro nuke without the dangerous radioactive fallout. Just a short blast of plasma, which was as hot as the sun itself and unstable to carry around, a perfect diplomatic aid.

Shrugging his shoulders, Xander walked away. Following a path through the jungle, where the snail gang seemed to have moved often.

+++

Hours later, he found landing pads with ships, strange looking alien ships, like something from Battlestar Galactica. It was chaos and confusion, everybody was in shock over the situation, and nobody stopped him or even noticed him.

Xander frowned as something guided him towards a fitting ship. It was not that big, only about 30-40 meters long and looked a bit like a turtle. He could read words on the side: "Ghtroc Industries Class 720 Freighter."

"From now on, your name will be Enterprise." Inside the ship, he saw that it was empty. He quickly closed the door, hoping the owner died in the explosion. Finally finding himself in the cockpit, Xander frowned. What now? Looking over the million and one buttons and shifts, he realized that he had NO idea what they were. "Great, what do I do now?"

A ghost like voice whispered in his mind, "That button to power up."

Xander blinked. "Alright ghost, I am listening for now, but if you trick me, I will never talk to you again." he said, pressing the indicated button. He had nothing to lose.

The engine started to power up.

"Pull the lever up and then switch the five green levers up." the voice said. Xander nodded and suddenly the ship was floating up. He grinned as he switched the levers on and suddenly he was flying at a mad break neck speed. The voice now screaming, "pull up pull up!"

Pulling everything he could at the same time, Xander managed to make a loop de loop and almost crashed in a lake before he found the right thing to pull up with. Flying slower now, the ship entered space. Xander looked around. "You do know I have NO idea where I am, what I am doing or where I'm going, right?"

The ghost was silent for a moment, before saying "My son is going to help you."

Xander grinned. "Cool. Anything you'd like me to say to your kid? And what's your name?"

A short moment later, he could see the ghostly outline of a friendly man who looked to be in his late 40´s or something, a man who had been hurt badly by life, from birth to death.

"Anakin Skywalker," the ghost said, smiling at the dimensional alien whose presence here had sent a shock wave through the Force.

+++

It took hours before Xander and the ghost had managed to calculate the jump to Yavin 4 and the ship vanished in to hyperspace.

+++

Later in hyperspace

"And that's the story. The life of Alexander Lavelle Harris, all 17 years of it," Xander said to the ghost as he looked at the auto-chef. Whatever had owned this ship before he stole it had great taste. Sure the food was blue, but it tasted great.

The ghost was silent as it listened, together with generations of Jedi, judging the young man from an alternate reality. If what the boy said was true, that Hutt almost destroyed a pre-space planet in an alternate reality. The boy clearly believed that what he said was true, but he also said that Demons loved trickery and lies. And that Angels where not always willing to give out the whole truth unless it was needed.

It was silent in the ship as Xander ate his meal. "So, do you think you could teach me how to run this ship?" Xander asked, hoping the ghost was still there.

"Yes, Xander, I can teach you how to run the ship," the ghost said.

Xander grinned. "Sweet, so let's start," he said, standing up eagerly.

+++

Hours later in the engine room the ghost was feeling surprised. It seemed that the basic knowledge Xander had been given to accomplish his task included basic machinery and engines, even computers, but not how to pilot a ship.

The boy could perhaps learn how to repair an ion engine in only weeks. Logical, if what they said to Xander was true. They knew a great artifact had to be destroyed and their champion had to know how to use whatever tools he could steal and use, if he failed in a surprise attack. But piloting a star-ship was not a part of his knowledge. Anakin smiled as he began teaching the young man the basics of piloting a starship.

+++

Days later

Xander frowned and said: "This feels weird."

The ghost just said: "Do or do not. Focus Xander, you have the gift. Stretch out, feel the cup with your mind and lift it." He had done it the day before, so Anakin wasn't worried.

Slowly the cub started to fly as Xander focused his mind. His eyes glowed green and yellow, as one object after another started to fly around him. "Look, I'm a solar system," Xander said, as cup after cup started to fly in a circle around him. "Mercury, Venus, Earth and the moon." A tiny piece of sugar started to rotate around the cup Xander had named Earth. "Mars and Jupiter" The cubs suddenly fell down.

Xander grinned, "That wasn't so hard. Right?"

The ghost of Anakin nodded. "You have great talent, young man. A great responsibility and danger come with that power." He said, sounding deadly dangerous.

Xander answered, "Yea, the Vader story you told me, right?"

Anakin looked at him. "With powers like yours and like me and those of my family, we do not have a choice. The dark-side is always there, a danger to anybody who is too prideful or untrained."

A sudden alarm spooked them. "What's that?" Xander asked.

The ghost answered him, "It is the ship's alarm. We enter normal space and the Yavin system in 20 minutes."

Xander frowned. "Already?" he asked in surprise. The ghost had said that because Xander was so untrained, the hyperspace road they had taken was longer and slower than the quicker and shorter road.

But crossing the galaxy in only 20 days was still pretty incredible. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer see Chapter 1

Note: Here it is now all fixed up. Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable.

Chapter 2

Early in the morning the sun was rising and outside the great stone temple where the Jedi Praxeum was located, the ship, renamed Enterprise by its captain, landed slowly and clumsy on the landing pads.

"Who is it Uncle Luke?" the 16 year old girl said to the taller man beside her.

Luke smiled. "It's a stranger from a strange place. He is your age and he is powerful. Perhaps you, Jaina and your brother could show him around. It would be good for him to have friends his own age."

Jaina nodded. "It's a sweet ship, a Ghtroc 720." She had read about them and even had seen some of them. This one was in mint condition. "It was one of those you used during the Thraw campaign, right?" she asked her uncle.

Luke nodded. "Yes, but it was an old beat up ship. They made a ferry out of it so I could hide my X-wing inside the ship. Then whenever I had to make a quick getaway I could just jump in the X-wing, push the self-destruct button and fly away while the fragments of the Ghtroc protected my escape."

Jaina grinned. "Whoever is flying that ship is NOT a good pilot."

Luke nodded in agreement. "It's the first time he's ever landed a ship. His first flying lesson was during takeoff. So I would say he has potential." Jaina frowned. "He never piloted a ship before? What backwards planet did he come from?" She shrugged, "Plenty of farm boys, wet behind the ears, later became great heroes and some were even family."

With a big bump that must have damaged the left rear landing gear and the landing pad, the ship hit the pavement.

Jaina twitched as the pilot kept abusing his ship. By activating the ion engine he was rocketing up into the air again.

By now more and more Jedi students were watching the show.

Lowbacka frowned. "Roar rrrgroor" he asked.

Jacen shrugged. "No idea." 

-KA-

Meanwhile the ship was returning down again. Trying for a slower south entry and flying straight into a tree. Luke twitched as the front right landing gear got stuck in one of the massive Massasi trees and he could hear the ripping sound, as huge branches were ripped of the tree and the ship came in for the landing. This time the pilot managed to smash the ship down in a 3 point landing.

Lucky for him the branches buffered his landing and kept the ship from getting damaged any more than it already was.

A bleeping sound of absolute bafflement came from R2D2 and Luke smiled. "No, he has no license. I believe he stole the ship from some criminals." He smiled as the other Jedi students stared in shock." He is an interesting student."

"Poor ship." Jaina said.

Jacen frowned, "A ship thief?"

Lowbacka shrugged. "Grrorar" he reminded Jacen that they had stolen a ship too, to escape from the shadow academy.

Tenel Ka nodded, "Indeed there are thieves and then there are those who are forced to be a thief to survive" she said.

Not surprising to Jaina, Jacen nodded, as if agreeing with Tenel Ka. 

-KA-

Finally the entry ramp was lowered and a strangely dressed young man walked out of the ship.  
Whatever he was dressed in, must have been stolen also, because it barely fit him and from what Jaina could see, consisted of what must have been the latest Sulustan fashion.

Xander swallowed. Oh boy, he sure made a good entrance. "Hi. If anybody is wondering, I am NOT a good pilot and I'm in desperate need of piloting lessons" he said, trying not to blush.

Tenel-Ka nodded as she studied the young man. He was built like a fighter. Strong and powerful, and yet he had a dexterous body. His eyes were pulsing in a mix between green and yellow, with the beat of his heart. "Indeed" she said.

Jaina nodded, now that was one big hunk of a teen dream. "Uncle Luke, uhm Master Skywalker asked me, my brother and our friends to help you around and I could give you flying lessons" she said.

Luke's eyes studied the teenagers. It looked like they would get along. "Welcome. Is it Alexander or Xander?" Anakin Skywalker, his father, had talked to him about the young man, so he knew about Xander.

Xander blinked. "Um, both actually, my name IS Alexander, but I like Xander more. It's shorter and less formal." His journey through space had made him accept the name Alexander. He felt that being banished into this universe to save his own world earned him the meaning of the name. (Alexander - protector of men)

Besides, it would remind him that he was a savior and protector. Perhaps it would help him remember who he was.

Luke said, "Then Welcome to the Jedi Praxeum, Alexander, where we will begin your journey as a Jedi Knight."  
The boy smiled a bitter sweet smile. "Thanks."

Luke smiled back, "The lessons are individualized. You will begin with the beginners and then, if you are skilled, we will move you to more advanced lessons. For some it may take years and for others only months."  
He turned to Jaina. "I'm sure my niece and her friends can help you with piloting lessons." He looked around. "Sadly I have to leave you for now. I will be back later this evening."

Jaina walked up to Xander and looked him over. He had muscles like steel. "Hi! I'm Jaina," she said.

Her brother joined them and held up his hand. "Hi, I´m Jacen, her twin brother" he said smiling, as Xander grabbed his hand and shook it quickly.

Lowbacka frowned as he growled out a question. The tiny Droid M-TD hanging from his belt spoke up. "Master Lowbacka wonders whether the name Alexander has any special meaning, since you said you liked the shorter version better because it had a less formal meaning."

Behind them Jacen was massaging his hand. He hoped nothing was broken.

Xander blinked, he had said formal only because it had sounded better when a teacher was screaming it in his face. "Actually Alexander is an old name meaning protector of humans." He said making a free translation from Greece to Basic. He grinned. "Xander would be simply human."

Jaina grinned. "So we could just call you human?"

Xander just grinned back to her. "It's an OLD name in a now dead language from my home world. Most don't even know the meaning of the name" he said as he smiled and started to see who had the strongest grip, the Wookiee Lowbacka or he himself.

Lowbacka nodded. Being called protector of humans would be a bit like calling himself a hero or something. But he was strong and a growling sound came as the Wookiee showed Xander the meaning of strength.

The two slowly started to smile as they crushed each other's hands harder and harder.

Jaina blinked. "Is he trying to out-strength a Wookiee?"

Jacen nodded. "He is strong, but no way" he said. His hand was finally working again.

Xander grinned. "I have NO idea how strong I am. I recently suffered an enhancement that made me grow  
stronger, much stronger." It was apparent that the Wookiee was still stronger than Xander.

"But not Wookiee strength."

Tenel-Ka nodded and spoke from where she was standing next to Xander. "Indeed."

Xander spun around with a surprised yelp. He was ready to fight, but he managed to stop himself, before he could attack the girl. "Damn it. Do not sneak up on me. Where I grew up, anybody sneaking up on you was an enemy." The girl was his age or maybe a year younger. She had red hair and her left arm ended near the elbow. Something had cut of her arm. But from the way she moved, sure of herself, he could see that the loss of one arm did not stop her in anyway.

Tenel-Ka smiled. "I might remember that." She said with no worry in her voice. This would be fun, somebody to sneak up on.

"You said you have NO idea exactly how strong you are." Jacen said.

Xander blinked and stopped glaring at the red-haired girl.

Xander answered, "Yea, the change made me stronger over night and it also made my eyes funky green and yellow." Beside him the three friends looked at each other. They and Luke would have to teach Xander to control his strength also.

Jaina smiled up to her friend. The silent Wookiee was apparently thinking about something.

M-TD voice was the only one that was heard. "Good morning Master Alexander. I am M-TD Wookiee human translator droid and I am fluent in over six forms of communications."

"Over six forms? I have been more impressed before." Xander said ironically.

The others were surprised that that actually got the droid to shut up. It was sulking.

Xander said. "Um sorry, I just know six forms myself. I talk Basic, English, a bit of Huttese, I read Latin and can read four other languages with some help." O yes, the Giles translation school of nightmare, learn to read fast or the end of the world might happen. It was surprisingly effective.

The poor droid kept sulking.

Then the lesson started. 

-KA-

Two months later

"Yo gang" Xander said as he jumped down the stairs, shocking the younger students as he fell down at least two floors before slowing down and landing softly beside his friends.

Tenel-Ka grinned as she pushed her walking staff towards Xander in a fast attack, which Xander as always dodged, and did a sweeping kick with his right leg. Tenel-ka jumped over it with ease as she slammed the staff down, but Xander managed to grab the staff and pulled it towards him. Tenel-Ka lost her balance only for a second, but that was all he needed. Quickly he flipped his finger over her nose.

"Got you this time." he said.

Tenel-Ka nodded smiling. "Indeed but the last time I got you." she said.

It was the staff's fault, with only one hand to move, the long walking staff made her slower and put her out of balance. That was fine with her, life was a challenge and beating the challenge was so much fun. Eventually she might get a new cybernetic left arm.

In the mean time, life with only one arm was perhaps more of a challenge. So why remove those difficulties she had to defeat by replacing the arm that was lost because of her own foolish mistake? The harder the challenge, the sweeter was the victory.

Jaina giggled. "So, we haven't seen you in over a week. What happened?"

Xander shrugged. "Master Skywalker said I should relax a bit. He said I was one of the most driven and focused students he has ever had." He grinned. "That must be a first time ever. On my home world I used to be a clown, no studying, just having fun and later fighting to protect. Now I want to learn. I want to make a difference and now the teacher says I should take it slower."

Lowbacka growled out something and M-TD translated. "Master Lowbacka wonders, if you would like to join us in the forest. We are exploring one of the old temples and a lake."

Xander nodded. "Yea, I'll go get my swimming trunks." 

-KA-

An hour later the gang had landed the air-speeder near an old lake. Now they were having a picnic.  
Xander said. "I heard something big is happening and I don't understand what it's all about."

Jacen replied. "It is complicated, you know? First the fall of the republic, then the empire, after that the civil war and then there was the fall and rebuilding of the New Republic."

"So far I'm with you" Xander said.

"That's the bad part. The New Republic is almost as big as the Old Republic, but we don't have the Jedi to guard it." Jaina said.

"Still not getting it." was Xander's answer.

Jacen continued. "The Old Republic was created 10 000 years ago. It started small with many Jedi, which worked as Jedi watchmen over solar systems. Many of them build Jedi temples and schools, like Uncle Luke's school here. About 4000 years ago the Jedi Civil war started and the Republic was attacked by the Sith army."

"That was, according to what mom said, the beginning of the end. The Jedi concentrated the teaching to Coruscant, allowing only a small handful of other Jedi schools to exist and only under close surveillance from the modern temple at Coruscant. They forbid Jedi to marry, further distancing themselves from reality, but also from the risk of falling to the Dark Side." Jaina said looking at Xander.

Xander nodded. "So the number of Jedi's diminished"

They all nodded.

"Exactly, I believe the Jedi council was aware of that, but they did not really understand their own importance. The Republic with its navy, law enforcement and senate was unable to work without the guidance of the Jedi." Jacen threw a stone into the lake. "With so many millions of different aliens side by side, with different kinds of minds, behavior and cultures, ONLY a Jedi could mediate and create peace. Corruption grew stronger and stronger, until all Palpatine had to do was push and the Empire was born."

"And now they rebuilt the New Republic too fast. Too many worlds and there's only a handful of Jedi, and to make things worse, they refuse to make the Jedi an official part of the chain of command. They wanted us to be advisors. They'd call upon us only when they'd need us" Jaina said.

"Its falling apart and a civil war will happen again." Tenel-Ka said.

Jacen, Jaina and Lowbacka all knew she was the crown princess of the Hapes Cluster and the information her grandmother had told her was not pretty. "Grandma told me that in the old days the Jedi were like a conscience that guided the senators".

Xander said, "I got it. Essentially, they built a pipe dream. Without an army of Jedi, the Republic isn't able to work or even exist."

Jaina answered. "Yea, but after the fall of the Empire all the Rebel Alliance could think about was to finally rebuild the freedom of the Old Republic. Nobody really considered that the Jedi who had always been there in the background, giving words of wisdom and doing diplomatic missions, were that important."

"Some of the Idiots are making waves. The Botan's are making problems. They are building a powerbase focused on themselves and they are not the only ones, but considering that the current president IS a Botan and he does not like the Jedi..." Jacen sighed.

They were interrupted when part of the old temple suddenly gave in and collapsed into the lake. The five teenagers all stood up and stared.

"It looks like a cave or an underground part of the temple." Xander said.

Jaina nodded. "But it´s underwater now, no way we can get inside." she frowned.

Xander grinned as he pulled of his shirt. "I wouldn't be too sure about that," he said, flexing the muscles of his neck showing them his gills. "I told you I've gone through some biomod that made me into what you call Near-Human biological, compatible with normal humans, but with unique abilities."

Before they could stop him, Xander took a deep breath and jumped into the lake.

Jacen said. "So that's why he is so good at swimming and staying under water."

It was wonderful diving again. The gills were working well, it was like breathing without your nose, when you have a cold and it's full of snot.

A pair of extra eyelids protected his eyes and the muscles in the nose and mouth clamped them close, to keep water out of his lungs.

His arms and legs pushed him forward and with the help of the Force, he could now swim as fast as he could run, maybe faster.

Then there was the cave. He popped his head over the surface to take a deep breath. Not that he really needed it, just an old habit, and then he vanished into the deep. The pocket light he fortunately had with him was a universal environment torch, it worked just fine under water.

It was a hidden cave. Just nine meters inside he came to the surface.

He found an old forgotten temple room with air and plenty of space. With his help, the others could even dive in here. He stretched out with the force, trying to sense any danger. Something was calling out to him.

Slowly he walked up from the water and into the room, where lying on the ground were three glittering crystal gemstones. They sang to him and he picked them up. They where glittering in the light of his lamp. Flashes of a lightsaber appeared in his head as he studied them. He had to tell Luke, that it was time.

A few moments later he went back to get his friends.

It was a giggling Xander that helped Lowbacka inside. The young Wookiee looked like a wet dog and was just as miserable. There weren't many rooms, but they walked around. They could see old carvings and pictures made by the Massasi.

Jaina said. "They were a near-human species called the Sith and their lords, then during the old hyperspace war 10 000 years ago the first Sith empire was destroyed and as a race, they died. But their masters, the Dark side cult, survived to our days. It changed its way and form, but it still exists." She looked at the fascinated look on Xander's face. "The Massasi were mutants, created by Sith-Alchemy, twisted versions of the REAL Sith race. They were a slave race of warriors, Xander."

The picture now made more sense to him, dark and foreboding. Flashes jumped in his head as he walked along the murals, flashes of empires struggling and fighting each others. Jedi VS Jedi in a war that would reshape the galaxy. Xander swallowed. "I got a flash from a future. A galaxy in war," he said.

Lowbacka growled, "Gree" and M-TD translated. "He is wondering…"

Xander interrupted the droid. "I got the feeling a time of choosing is coming. The Jedi have to make a choice who is going to be the new heir to the Republic. The faster the choice is made, the shorter the time of war will be." He looked at them. "Or something like that."

Jacen said. "Perhaps you are just affected by what we talked about."

Xander shrugged. "I don't think so," he said with hunted eyes. "I really don't think so."

The teens were silent. All of them had experienced war in different ways.

Lowbacka roared a Wookiee war roar and slammed his mighty fist in the wall, crushing an old stone. M-TD piped up. "Master Lowbacka says that as long as we stay true to the light and stand strong, nothing will bring us down."

Lowbacka grabbed the droid and shook him. "Growled groaaer," angry at the translator droid.

M-TD defended itself. "Well, that was what you really meant to say. Alright, Master Lowbacka said bring it on. Really my translation was much better."

Laughter and a few stray giggles filled the old underground chambers as they investigated the rest of it.

They found a pair of old weapons, waraxes or something. Xander lifted the axe. It had a long two-handed pole arm, but something was strange. "Looks like something is supposed to be put here." he said.

On the blade of the axe there was a holdout area were something could be placed and even a trigger mechanism.

Jacen "It's a Massassi Lanvarok. They put a disk with razor sharp edges in there. Then when they swing the axe, they can pull the trigger with their hands and send the disk flying, using only brute strength."

Xander looked around finding a pair of rusty disks on the floor. Pushing them in the axe blade he could see that once upon a time the axe would actually grab a hold on the disks and hold it there until it was released by a trigger. "How the hell do they aim with it?"

Jaina giggled. "They do not. They used the force to make sure the disk hits the target. It's an OLD Sith weapon which is famous because there are no real aiming mechanisms. You use the force to guide the missile or disk in the air. It's a hunting weapon, but the Sith used it as a weapon of war during the hyperspace war 10 000 years ago. It became a legend and a myth."

Jacen nodded. "You would not believe how many holovidios of magical lanvaroks are out there. This one is a massassi version they are more primitive then a real Sith Lanvarok. Which is a wrist mounted weapon that would magnetically accelerate a number of disks at the target at the same time."

Jaina continued. "Still even the more advanced version depends on the force to actually hit anything."

Tenel-ka grinned. "I have tried a modern build version of a Sith Lanvarok, it´s deadly silent and fast. I believe If you master it you could shoot around a corner with it. Of course, it looks more impressive than it actually is. But still the razor sharp disk could do great deal of damage to unprotected targets and if you use vibroshivs instead..."

Xander eyes narrowed. "I wonder, if I could do that with my magnum."

Jacen sighted "You still going to carry that museum reject with you? A Blaster is a hundred times more effective that that old thing."

Xander shrugged. "Yes. But the Blasters are silent, my gun on the other hand has a great big voice of doom." he grinned and if the Sith could guide a disk using the force, he could learn to do the same with a bullet.

The future was coming. His old world had demons, angels and other mystical monsters. This world had the Light and the Dark side of the Force.

Xander turned around, almost towering over the others even though Jacen was the same size and Lowbacka was more than a head taller.

"The future might be dangerous, big choices that will affect the galaxy will come, but that's not important. The important thing is to keep your friends and your love alive." Xander said, smiling to the girls, especially Jaina, she reminded him of Buffy, Cordelia and Willow, all three. She was as smart as Willow, a bit of a geek at times, strong and brave like Buffy and she knew fashion, the way of the mighty and liked to say the truth even when it was painful and hard just like Cordelia.

Yes, mission accomplished.

He made her blush.

To see picture of the ship he stole go to this page and look at Ghtroc 720  
http:/deckplans./  
http:/deckplans./Ghtroc/720/Ghtroc_720_Light_Freighter_


	3. Chapter 3

2-1

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Note: Here it is now all fixed up. Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable. 

Later the same day

The meditation chamber was always filled with the sound of the surrounding forest. Located as far away as possible from the part where the Jedi were living, the birds and the singing ape like beings where all you could hear. Only a tiny artificial light was in the middle of the room, the sun and the gas giant Yavin gave them all the light they really needed when it was day.

Luke and his beautiful wife Mara Jade Skywalker were sitting next to each other as Xander walked into the room.

"Master Skywalker, Master Jade," he bowed his head in greeting. "I am in need of your wisdom today. I had two visions, one personal and the other was of the future" Xander said.

Calling them both masters felt strange, but those were their titles so he used them as he should. Sure he still called him Luke in private, but not when they interacted professionally. Only during dinner and when Luke or the redheaded Mara helped him with his flying lessons. He finally had taken the piloting lessons and they found a shipload of illegal drugs inside the ship. So the Republic had put up a wanted sign for the former owner and then gave the ship to him as a reward.

Mara said, "You seem nervous, Student Xander" she said. Unlike Luke, she preferred the shorter version of his name.

Xander nodded. "I am nervous, not afraid but nervous. I saw a galaxy in civil war. The New Republic had fallen and Jedi were fighting Jedi. Army and navy struggling to command the galaxy and it will be up to us to decide how long the war will last. Depending on which side we choose as the Republic is reborn."

Luke frowned. "I see why that would make you nervous Alexander." He really liked that name, perhaps it was the farm boy in him, as his wife said, but Protector of Humanity? It was a real hero´s name. "But are you sure it was a future you saw?" He always stressed the fact that the future was hard to see.

Xander grinned. "It was not this vision that made me nervous. I firmly believe that all anybody can really do is fight to keep your loved ones safe and happy. The rest will take care of itself in time."

Luke said. "As a Jedi you have to be watchful of the future. Let your vision guide you. But always remember to be careful, the future is hard to see, always in motion it is. So what is it that made you nervous?" he asked.

Xander held forward the three gems. "I was guided to them. And the moment I held them, I knew the time  
has come for me to build a lightsaber."

Mara Jade frowned. "Two months, is the time we have taught you. That is really a short time. Most of our students wait a year before they build their lightsaber." She looked at him. "Are you sure it is now and here you are building it?"

Luke studied Xander´s face as he meditated on that.

Xander said. "I am in the Enterprise. There are others than you teaching me, but we are not alone."

Luke nodded. "A mission and you could become apprentices." He said, meditating. He felt the boy would need his lightsaber soon. And if he was honest with himself, Alexander was ready for a lightsaber when he came here. His skills were lacking and still were, but with another teacher that can give him private lessons, he could possibly be a Jedi by then, maybe in less than a year, or close enough that he could finish the rest himself.

Mara looked at Xander. "Are the ghosts still talking to you?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "Um yea, So far a Green Muppet and somebody that Ben claimed was his master." He snapped his fingers. "Yea, Ben said that to tell you the future is in motion and the simple answer might be the wrong answer."

The two masters looked at each other and Luke knew it was time to leave. He could hear somebody protesting behind them. Young baby Ben Skywalker had awoken and wanted his mom and dad right now.

*

Later

He was woken up, brutally and cruelly, by a brown haired girl, that was suddenly shaking him. "Wake up NOW" she screamed.

Xander mumbled. "Uh. Jaina what´s the what?"

She grinned. "Just hurry." As she walked out, stealing a peak at his body. If they made statues like that, she would start a collection.

Xander sighted. "Girls." Eager and stomping her foot, Jaina was waiting for him as he sneaked out from the kitchen with a cup of caw and some sweet fruit to eat.

"What?" he asked.

Jaina grinned. "My mom, dad and my brother Anakin are here together with Uncle Chewbacca". Anakin was four years younger than they were, but he had already started lessons with Uncle Luke during the summer. In the winter time Mom was helping him learn the Force. He would soon start as a full time Jedi student.

Xander nodded. "Wait." He said and started to sneak out. Tenel-ka was standing un-guarded near a kid, time  
to kick her red haired butt. Jaina sighted. "Not again."

Silently he started to sneak, then went faster and faster. He moved and grabbed Tenel-Ka's shoulders from behind then he tried to kick her legs from behind to force her down. It did not work.

First Tenel-Ka was falling down, but before Xander could give her a flip on the nose, the kid attacked, sending a rain of rocks flying towards him. Xander backed down in shock, as he was working all that he could with the Force to parry the rain of deadly rocks the kid was attacking him with.

Before he had a chance to say anything or counterattack, a pair of big strong and hairy arms grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up.

Tenel-ka grinned as she walked up and with her finger flipped him on the nose. "I win again." She grinned.

Xander spluttered, hanging from the arms of Chewbacca. "Hey that's unfair. You. You had help."

The kid looked at them. "You two were playing?" he asked.

Jacen, who was standing and talking to somebody that looked like an older version of himself, laughed. "Yes Anakin. Xander and Tenel-Ka always pretend to attack each other, just to improve their ability to fight."

Behind them Jaina giggled. "That's Uncle Chewbacca" she said.

The mighty Wookiee Chewbacca laughed out as he put Xander down to hug Jaina.

"So that's THE Falcon" Xander said as he watched the legendary Millennium Falcon and walked up to the ship and held out his hand to Jaina´s father. "Hi, I'm Xander. From what Jaina said, that ship could destroy a fleet of star destroyers and out flies an A-wing" he said, grinning.

The older version of Jacen smiled. "Hi kid, I'm Han Solo. And yes, it's the greatest ship in the galaxy. I heard you were a special kind of pilot?" he said, grinning back.

Xander snorted "yea. My first flying lesson was during takeoff. I had to fly by instinct." He nodded to Jacen,  
Jaina and even Lowbacka. "They have been teaching me how to fly and fix a ship since then." he said.

Jacen shrugged. "He was already really good at fixing and building and the flying? Now he isn´t a bad pilot anymore." He said smiling. "But I still do not trust his landings."

A short time later they where crawling around in the Falcon´s engine room, checking out the improvements while Han explained them and they were impressive.

Han and Chewbacca inspected his ship with great joy. Most of its improvements were already there as he had stolen it. He and Jaina explained what the ship could do and what Xander wanted to improve on the ship. It sure was a long list. Faster Ion-engines, stronger shields and two quad laser cannons instead of the tiny guns it already had.

It was possible, but it would cost a small fortune. The engines could be improved by boosting the existing engines, which were already changed to a faster version as the standard. The shields and the cannons, now that would could cost a bit. Han did explain to him, that if he got the guns slightly used from former free-traders (Smugglers), he could get them really cheap. Just watch your back and ship.

Chewbacca told him that, as a Jedi, he could get military hardware for a good price at a New Republic Yard. The New Republic wanted their Jedi alive and so was willing to let them buy X-wings and other military stuff, so more guns on a cargo ship were NO problem.

Han Solo sighed. "That's not good kid. What good are improved guns, if the law knew about them?"

Xander answered, "Plenty, if you get your missile system or an Ion-Cannon from criminals." Both Chewbacca and Han grinned and nodded. Both of them were looking at him with approval.

Sadly Leia was looking at the ground talking to herself about another scruffy looking scoundrel.

"HEY I am NOT scruffy looking." Xander protested. To his surprise both Han Solo and Chewbacca started to laugh.

*

Hours later

Inside the Skywalkers' room

Xander, Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Tenel-Ka, the five friends were getting more nervous as more adult Jedi were marching into the room, Mara, Leia and a dark haired man that looked like a fighter with hands full of scars. In Xander's eyes, that man had the look of an alpha predator.

As a second, light brown haired, man entered and was looking at Xander, it felt to him like a police detective was studying him.

Finally Luke entered the room and sat down. "This Jedi Academy is a Praxeum and in a Praxeum we teach more by showing and allowing the student to learn by their own speed and ability."

"In the old times, young students were learning as we do, in a Praxeum form. Later they became Jedi Padawans, apprentices under one master. That apprenticeship could last years, before the young Jedi were adults and fully learned. Jedi had only one Padawan at a time and most Jedi never had more than two or three students during their whole life."

He looked around the five young Jedi students. "The Master was more than just a teacher, he was a mother and a father, he was a guide and teacher of right and wrong."

Xander frowned. "That's sounds slow and limited." he said.

Luke nodded. "Yes, in the Old times, the really old times before the Jedi Civil war 4000 years ago, a Jedi could have more than one apprentice. At that time, the apprentices often were older, adults or late teens just as you are. Those ways of learning are faster, but also put more responsibility on each of you to act as a Jedi."

Xander said. "And you are explaining this, because I'm the only one that doesn't already know that, right?"

Jaina chirped in. "Yup. You have been working too hard with learning piloting, repairing and using the force." she said grinning.

Xander shrugged. "Yes, but I also did a good work at learning." He smiled at her. Leia smiled as the young man and her daughter were flirting. He looked and felt like a scoundrel with a heart of gold, she liked that in a person.

Luke nodded. "Exactly, beside me I have Jedi master Corran Horn, Commander of Rogue Squadron." He said nodding to the police man.

"Jedi Master Kyle Katarn, former military." The man with eyes like a predator smiled back. It was a smile full of teeth.

Xander hesitated. "Um Excuse me? But Master Horn, is he really a pilot ace?" he asked, doubting Luke.

"Do you believe I lie?" Luke asked.

Xander blushed. "Um no. There's no way he is just a pilot or a commander. He ... he feels like a law officer." he said, confused.

Corran actually blinked. "Is there anything wrong with being a law officer?"

Xander shrugged. "If I hear commander in a military unit and get the feeling of a law officer, my first idea is secret service and where I grew up, only the corrupted officers of the law survived."

Jaina frowned. "Xander, don't be stupid." she huffed. "And say that you're sorry to Corran Horn, he is a hero."

Corran smiled. "I am not angry or insulted by Alexander´s description. Before I became a pilot, I was a law officer. Correlian Security force. Then the Empire moved in and I had to choose between doing the right thing and breaking the law or keeping on working."

Kyle gave them a thin smile "What do I feel like kid?"

Xander shrugged again. "A lazy alpha predator, the biggest deadly beast I´ve ever seen, I just hope that you never get hungry, if I'm on the menu."

Tenel-Ka nodded. "What are you Master Kyle?"

Kyle smirked. "I am a former Special forces man, infiltration and sabotage." he said at the kids, who could only swallow.

Kyle looked at Luke. "He is mine." He turned to Corran. "I know you wanted that girl, but I know she would learn well under me."

Corran nodded. "Perhaps, but you are right, she would be distracted with the X-wings around. Jacen, Lowbacka if you accept, I will be your teacher in the force."

The two nodded eagerly.

Leia smiled. "Tenel-Ka, please if you will have me, I will be your teacher."

Tenel-Ka nodded, on the inside she was blushing, Leia was an idol to her. A real warrior princess, something she was struggling to become. And she could never forget that her Dad almost had married Leia. She would be learning from a living legend. Somebody that was like a million times greater than Luke. "That would be an acceptable alternative" she stated in her calm and logical voice.

She got the greatest of the teacher; the party kept going inside her mind.

Leia frowned, the kid sounded disappointed. Well, she just has to prove herself then.  
Jacen grinned, Tenel-Ka sounded so cute when she was happy. And even better, each time that he visited mom and dad, he would see Tenel-ka.

Jaina frowned she missed out on Corran Horn. No way, but she loved X-wings or starships.

The hard man that is Kyle Katarn started to walk out of the door. "Xander, Jaina follow me." He said.  
Behind them Luke's voice was heard. "May the force be with you."

*  
Space was surrounding them, as the Enterprise exited the gravity pull of Yavin 4 and then entered hyperspace.  
Kyle looked, with appreciation, over the two teens driving the ship. He himself was an acceptable pilot, but nothing more.

Most Jedi were good or great as pilots, but not him. Give him an Imperial base, full of storm troopers and murderous robots, and he would destroy it with or without the force.

Destruction and battle seemed to be his talent, he always knew where the enemies where hiding. And he always could find secret ammunition stashes.

But these two kids seem to know their way around a starship. Good.

Kyle stirred. "Xander? Luke said you felt it was time to build your lightsaber? Take a look at this data pad. It has designs off different versions. Read it, watch it and meditate over it. Then we will start building yours, two days from now." he said, looking at Xander.

"Yes sir," Xander said, grabbing the data pad. Leaving the piloting to the autopilot and the tiny R3-F4 he had managed to pay for. R3 units were designed to be used for space transports and capital ships, while the R2 model was designed to be used for star fighters and speeders. The R3 was more of a specialist then the R2 units.

Jaina turned to their Master. "What am I to do Master?" looking hopefully at the Jedi master.  
Kyle grinned. "You and I are going to do gymnastics." His grin widened at her surprised look.

*

Days later

Meditating while Kyle and Jaina were running around like crazy nuts was hard, although perhaps not as hard as Jaina felt getting into shape. But Xander had the feeling that Kyle Katarn could outrun Buffy. He found out that Katarn was actually a big and dangerous man eating cat like animal that sometimes were tamed and used as guard animals and existed on many worlds.

Kyle might be a human, but he sure moved like a jungle cat and could have an At-At as lunch.

He was done and he knew what he would build.

The data pad was full with information about lightsaber designs. Even HUGE gigantic lightsabers, a so called lightclub or great-lightsabers with a blade up to 3 meters. The species that were 2-4 meters long used them and tiny lightsabers, lightdaggers. Species like Yoda and others had used them. Dual-Phased Lightsabers that could double their length with a simple activation switch. Underwater adaptations, Double-bladed lightsabers, Lightsaber Canes Or Lightsaber spears.

The hilt designs were as varied. Some were simple, like Corran´s hilt that looked like a hand grip on a speeder bike.

There were a lot of designs and potentials. He had three crystals that he finally identified. The green pair were an adegan crystal and a potite. An Adegan crystal had a deep imprint in the force and most of the OLD lightsabers were made of adegan crystals, often mephite. Pontite were the rarest and most powerful type of crystal that could be used to create powerful lightsabers, which seemed to be a part of the Jedi that used them.

The last crystal was just as rare, an opila gem. According to the data pad, an opila used in a lightsaber created an extra intense blade capable of cutting through most materials quicker than a normal lightsaber. They also created shorter blade than a normal lightsaber.

It was almost spooky that he found the three of them. The force was truly guiding him. Or luck. His plans were for two lightsabers. One 1,5 meter long blade, a bit longer than the standard 1,3 meter, then a shoto blade, a short light-dagger in his off hand.

He frowned and considered, it would be best if he made the longer a Dual-Phased blade, giving him the ability to change the blade from 1 meter up to a 2 meter length. Xander nodded that would be best. The Light-dagger would be around 20-60 cm long. He was not sure just how long.

Kyle entered the room a question on his face. Xander answered. "I am ready, Master."

Then they started to work. Kyle and Jaina helping him create parts of the hilts. He made sure it would be underwater blades. At the hilt bottoms he made a locking mechanism that gave him the ability to connect both hilts in to one double-bladed saber. Not that he was going to use it like that, but one never knew.  
A sword and a dagger combination were superior, but if he needed the surprise of starting the fight with a dual-bladed weapon and then shifting in to the sword-dagger combo, he would have the possibility of doing so.

Finally all was done. Around him were all the parts gathered around. They had parked the Enterprise on the planet Gelgelar at the Free port, a place owned by Sullustans, a smuggler hideout.  
Jaina and Kyle had left him alone.

Xander drank a nourishment drink as he started to meditate. To build a lightsaber he would have to attune each and every part with the force and become in harmony with each part of the weapons.

It was a ritual that could take a day or a week, depending on the skill and power of the Jedi. Different versions existed, short versions that took only a day, but created a blade that took a much longer time for the Jedi to become in harmony with.

He was using the longer ritual. From this moment on, until his first blade was build, he would only sleep an hour each day and nourishment drinks would be the only food he would have.

Entering meditation Xander grabbed the hollow hilt of his sword. His eyes unseeing, but his mind was watching its nature, its aura, the way it interacted with reality.

Slowly, part after part was inspected, as he started to build the weapons. A short moment of distraction came to him as he felt being watched. Shrugging he continued, according to the watch he had looked at, he needed almost five hours for the hilt. It was worth watching, he had to understand its secrets.

*

At the first nightfall Jaina watched the ship at the landing platform. Far away from the hotel room she was sleeping in. She was wondering how long it would take. Xander was strong in the force and had a strange instinctive gift with technology. Like the one both she and her younger brother Anakin had.

*

Days later

Loro Ecls, a Sullustan, looked over the warrior at the other side of the bar. "So I know I'm not supposed to put my nose in it. But I have seen you hanging around with that young girl. Is she your daughter?" he asked hoping nothing bad was going on with them.

Kyle laughed. "No, she is my student." Showing the Sullustan his ID card and lightsaber, "But thanks for caring. She is a great kid" he looked at the bartender "In a place like this, it is unusual to find anybody asking questions like that" he said, smiling.

Loro eyes twinkled. "A Jedi, are you here for catching smugglers? I am afraid you would be arrested. Only slavery is against the law here." he said.

Kyle shrugged. "I don't care. Have to get away from distraction. One of my students is building his lightsaber.

He locked himself in the ship with nothing to distract him there and left all the great food to eat for me and Jaina. And this is also a great place for me to train her in how to survive in a difficult terrain. She really hates this swamp world now" he grinned.

Loro grinned back. "So that's what the two of you have been doing out there. We had been wondering if you are treasure seekers or crazy wild game hunters. Seeing how bruised the girl is, some even believed you were hurting her."

Kyle laughed. "No, I'm teaching her to fight. There is a difference. She is getting stronger day by day. Gave the kid a choice I could teach her slow and painless or fast and painful. She got guts and the right instincts." he said, thinking about the young Solo girl.

Considering her mother and father, that was no surprise at all. Both the Skywalker and Solo families had proven themselves to be warriors.

*

3 weeks later

Finally, the entry hatches of the Ghtroc 720 opened. And a slimmer Xander Harris walked out. Hanging from his belt was a pair of lightsabers. The mist moved around him, hiding him as he walked forward, leaving no trace of his passing.

The door of the restaurant suddenly opened and a young man, whose face was hidden by a cloak, walked inside towards the table where Kyle and Jaina were eating dinner.

Bowing down, Xander held up his lightsabers. "I am done master." he said. Kyle nodded. The kid had a taste for drama. He could see the whole pub was torn between watching and running to the hills. And yes, the punk laughed silently, his face hidden by the cloak.

Kyle took the pair, watching them before he activated both blades.

Around him terror and fear filled the bar.

Were they Jedi out to arrest them, or Sith out to kill them?

The lightsaber blade activated with a brilliant green blade. He could see the control stud, with a twitch of the force the blade grew from a meter to two meters, before he let it once again shrink back to only a meter. He turned it off and studied the hilt. It was a good design; the belt ring was on the side and not at the end of the hilt. And he could see the locking mechanism that would transform the sword hilt and the dagger hilt into a double bladed saber. The Blade length adjuster was at the top and the Power adjuster was further back on the hilt.

The Light-dagger was a short blade, only 30 cm long. It´s yellow light was shining. The hilt was also short and just the basic needed. The locking mechanism was working and the belt ring was on the side, just as in the longer hilt on the sword. The daggerblade was focused and strong, this was a focused cutting blade. Kyle nodded; the punk had done good work. "I approve apprentice. Sit down and eat."

Xander nodded. Around them smugglers were sneaking out.

The bartender walked over, seeing Kyle waving his hand. "So young man, what can I get you?" he said in Sullustan. Xander blinked his eyes at the being that sounded like?bebpene be be," or something.

Jaina "He said, young man what can I get you?" she said giggling and pointing at the menu.

"Aha. Food, plenty of food a Wookiee special." Xander said, knowing he and Lowbacka had similar taste.

Kyle nodded, now the torture would really start. "Right kids. Now we will start training. I almost got your strength up and working Jaina. This is how we are going to do it" he said, putting a written plan down between them.

The two kids paled.

Morning: gymnastic, strength training and running strength training.  
4 hours.

Breakfast and 30 minutes rest.

Lightsaber training.  
4 hours.

Lunch. 30 minutes rest.

Theory, Force skills, language training, history, other knowledge and technical skills.  
4 hours

Dinner 1 hour

Weapon drills and knowledge. Lightsaber control practice.  
5 hours.

Cool down exercise and meditation exercise  
1 hour.

Sleep.  
6 hours.

Xander paled. "That's not possible."

Kyle grinned. "Sure it is. First Gelgar has a 13 hour day and a 13 hour night. That is giving us 26 hours to play with. Second, IF you do your Jedi meditation the right way, your need to sleep should be around 4 hours. Learn fast and welcome to the torture pits."

*

Two days later, out in the swamp lands of Gelgelar.

Kyle held his lightsaber low and in a guard position as Xander circled around him, his dagger held in a reverse grip and the other blade in a close shoulder position for quick strikes, constantly trying to find an opening.

"Open yourself to the Force, Xander. Feel my motions before I make them, let the Force guide you as you strike," Kyle said as the blades clashed against each other in brilliant flashes of light.

Beside them Jaina watched as they jumped back and forth. It was her turn to watch before she and Xander would fight again. Kyle was brutal and yet he forgot nothing.

He even had a protocol droid with them to give Xander lessons in languages and history and how to cook food.  
But their clothes, every pant, jacket and robe they had were cut asunder by lightsabers, were burned or had water damage.

Kyle somehow managed to always have an extra jumpsuit, while Xander and her were dressed like a pair of streets rats.

*  
Hours later

Xander was emptying his mind and tried to focus, he had a blast helmet on, blinding him completely. Around him Kyle had put 19 wax cylinders, of different heights, in different places. On top of each cylinder lay a tiny steel ball. The purpose of this exercise was to use his lightsaber or lightsabers to destroy the balls, without hurting the wax cylinders and it was supposed to be done in ONE long sweeping cut. He would have to dance around, never stop moving until the last steel ball was burned away. Using two lightsabers made it actually more difficult. It was training in mental discipline.

If he hit the ball the wrong way, it would hurt the wax cylinder and he had failed.

This was the first cadence, it only used 19 cylinders. Sometimes wax candles were used. Strike the unlit candle the right way and it started to burn. Strike it the wrong way and it was destroyed.

Second cadence was 72 cylinders. The forth cadence was 360 cylinders. Each cadence had more cylinders and they were placed in different patterns, making the training more and more difficult.

The fifth cadence used no cylinders, it was just a deadly dance of control and focus only a Jedi Master could do or rather fail in. Most Jedi masters never even managed the third cadence.

This was a control exercise that a Darksider was unable to even learn, Kyle had told them. The Focus, control and a clear mind this exercise needed made it impossible for them. It was also a training method designed to become harder and harder until even the most skilled Jedi would fail.

So far the first Cadence was far too difficult for him or Jaina. She once managed 14 cylinders before she failed. His maximum with one lightsaber was 11 and with two blades only 7.

He moved the blades constantly around him, striking fast and never stopping as he spun around, jumping and moving between the cylinders at break neck speed. Then Puff. He failed.

Looking up he was stunned. 13 cylinders with both blades.

He did it. He almost did it.

He had figured out how to use both blades in harmony. Sweet, if only Buffy could have seen this.

For the first time in a long time Xander took the luxury to wonder what his old friends back on Earth were doing. Something strange and weird always happened there. Perhaps the school had turned into ice and was melting.

*

At the same time on Earth in a dimension far far away and long ago or something.

Buffy grabbed the Vampire. "Quickly," growled out to the new slayer Faith. The two tied up the vampire as Oz van pulled up. They loaded the sucker into the van.

Faith smirked. "Thanks sister" she said to Oz who just sighed. It just had to be a full moon tonight. Hadn´t it?  
She nodded, "You´re welcome."

Faith frowned. "By the way, is Oz your brother? You kind of look like him." she grinned, the redhair had a boyfriend that was cool in a strange way. In the driver seat Oz sighed again.

Buffy giggled. "Um, that IS Oz" she said, knocking the Vampire down. She just hoped this sucker would have the information they needed about the mayor.

Faith gaped. "No way, you are shorter than him" she said.

Oz nodded. "Yes, I am. But I am Oz" she said.

Seeing Faith´s confusion, Buffy explained. "Oz was once a werewolf, but he made a joke wish and a demon changed him from a Werewolf to a were-girl." The two slayers started to laugh and giggle like crazy at his misfortune.

Oz looked irritated at the girls behind her. "At least as a were-bitch I do not get the urge to hunt and eat humans. Only chocolate" he smiled a bit. Life as a were-girl was much better then as a were-wolf.

*

Back to Xander in a galaxy and dimension far far away and a long time ago.

Too tired, dirty and hurting, the teens struggled into the restaurant/bar at the freeport. Kyle walked in, only seconds after them, looking as fresh as ever. "Hi Loro" he said to the bartender "I hope your food is good today. I have two hungry kids with me."

Loro watched the poor kids that walked beside the evilly grinning Jedi. They looked like a Stardestroyer had landed on them and then used them for fire practice. "Are you sure the young ones are well?" he asked.  
After the young boy had showed off his two lightsabers, they had vanished, together with a translator droid, in to the wild. Kyle had the starship docked in a secure landing platform. And nobody had seen them in almost four months.

Kyle nodded "I'm sure. We have a first aid droid on the ship. It says they are perfectly fine." He was silent.

"Also they are a bit undernourished" he said smiling.

Like a pair of sharks, the two Jedi apprentice devoured the food. Real food, not emergency bars and strange fishy looking things the droid claimed humans could eat.

Kyle grinned. "A glass of lum for me and a fish burger, thanks." Every meat on this planet was fish or bird, sometimes snake or snails, but mostly fish.

The Sullustan nodded. "Are you sure, that you do not train them too hard?"

Kyle frowned. "Na. They are just too soft. During my time in Rebel Special Forces I was trained much harder.

My training when I was their age was much harder. Before I became a rebel I was trained as an Imperial commando." He sighed almost longingly. "That was the time crawling true tiny pipes, running across a field with angry stormtrooper trainers shooting with pain blasters on any one of us who was to slow." He sighed sadly.

Loro nodded his Sullustan head. "I see." Behind him the boy was holding up a sign that read: Our Teacher is crazy. The kid flipped the sign. On the other side was written: And we are willingly following him. What are we?  
Loro laughed out loud, that was good joke.

Kyle blinked and noticed that most of the guests in the bar were laughing, including Jaina, while Xander was trying to look innocent and hiding something behind his back. With a wave of telekinesis, Kyle held the sign and was reading the two messenges. "Hey. That was fun and it seems like I have to train you harder than before." He grinned at the fearful look on the faces of Xander and Jaina.

The rewards of being a teacher, the pain, the suffering and the fear in the heart of your student, it is good, to be a lightsider caring for your student as much as he does.

*

A week later, sitting in the cockpit of the Enterprise, Xander was thinking back to what Kyle said, as an old smaller transport with the name "The Moldy crow" had landed to pick him up.

He said, that both of them had much to learn. But most of it, experience would teach them.

Now they were Jedi knights. He also ordered them to visit Luke and ask him for more lessons in Force skills. While he had taught them everything he could, they still had plenty of skills yet to master. The ghost had also given all three of them knowledge force skills. They had to write all of it down on computers until they had the time to study and master them.

Luke knew more about Jedi skills then he did. But for now, the two of them should go to Coruscant, where Luke and Leia were waiting. He would join them there.

The subspace radio was on and tuned to a music channel, where a Duros song was playing, in Earth terms he would probably consider it a country western song. Except most Duros songs would make an Earth country western song feel like they were made by whiny five year olds. The Duros somehow managed to include the emptiness of space, the terror and joy, the riches and difficulties of a space journey in their songs.

He sighed, as he started to meditate. A future was coming a hard time was arriving in the galaxy he now lived in.

And what was worst, soon they would land and what would Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo and not forgetting Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca do to him when they found out Jaina was now his girlfriend?  
Sure he was 18 and she 17 years old, but he was still a dead man piloting a ship.

*

**4. 3-0**

Note: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable

Knight away. 3-0

The voice from the space-control station sounded inside the cockpit of the Enterprise, as Xander piloted her closer to Coruscant. "Starship Enterprise, please enter course 777-93-22 keep the speed at 20 Mglt. Do not deviate from your course. A private landing place has been granted to you, by Jedi Master Skywalker."

"I repeat," and the voice started over again. Every now and then other information came bursting through. "Long Cargo, do not race in the space lane. Enterprise change course to 777-93-21. I repeat 777-93-21. Speed at 20 Mglt."

Jaina sighed, 20 Mglt was the speed of a snail. A normal ghtroc had a cruising speed of 30 Mglt. A standard Yt-1300 had 40 Mglt and the maximum speed of 120 Mglt.

To compare it to the old version of an X-wing, which had a cruising speed of 80 Mglt and a max speed of 320 Mglt. Dad's ship the "Millennium Falcon" had a cruising speed of 90 Mglt and a max of 360 Mglt. Many of the big bulk ships had a cruising speed of 10 or 20 Mglt, with the max speed limited to 40-80 Mglt.

The new republic version of the X-wing, the XJ-series, had a cruising speed of 110 Mglt max 440 Mglt. The old A-wing had in cruising speed 120 Mglt and a max speed 480 Mglt.

The Enterprise had a cruising speed of 50 Mglt and a max speed of 200  
Mglt. Whoever had owned the ghtroc before Xander had improved the ship's engine with a class five space engine. It was still slow, but starship control was forcing them to crawl.

Xander sighed, as he turned around. "R3, keep an eye on this." he said to the droid behind them. "It is cold in space today." he said, looking with a grin at Jaina. "Feel like warming yourself?"

Jaina giggled as she crawled over from the co-pilot seat and sat down on his lap. The two snuggled tighter and were kissing each other as the ship slowly moved into the atmosphere.

*

Later and down on the planet

On the balcony, above the landing platform, the Skywalker and the Solo families and also some friends were waiting. Some were sitting and some standing.

It was Jacen that pointed to the turtle shaped Enterprise first as it came closer to the platform. "There it is." he said. Leia stood up, eager to see her baby girl.

Each of them lifted their macro binoculars, in hope of seeing Jaina, Xander or perhaps both of them, in the cockpit of the ship.

Leia lowered her binoculars. "I knew it, he is a scoundrel." she said, blushing.

Han frowned. "He's dead." he growled out after seeing Jaina sitting on Xander, with Xander´s hands touching her in private areas.

Mara Jade Skywalker grinned. "I know how Xander does it, but I have no clue how Jaina is doing it," she said joking, trying not to laugh.

They all looked at her while under them the Enterprise landed.

Luke looked at his wife. "Do what, Mara?" he asked.

Mara grinned. "Xander has gills so breathing is no problem. But how does Jaina do it?" she said grinning. She really liked that kid.

Jacen gaped. "Xander sure moves fast."

Tenel-Ka nodded. "That is a fact" she said. Then turned and watched him.  
If only HE would move that fast.

Leia sighed. "Darling? Calm down now." she said to Han. "She might like the young man." Han Solo nodded. "Don't worry, they'll never find his body."

The thumping sound of the landing gear broke up the heavy petting Xander and Jaina were engaged in and Jaina gasped for breath. "Great Force: That is flying" she said, grinning. She quickly fixed her flight suit and jacket.

Beside her Xander did the same thing. "Do I look fine?" she asked.

Xander smiled. "Perfect, as always." the two grinned. Perfect and nobody would know that the both of them have been half nude only seconds ago.

As the exit hatch opened the two walked out, side by side, to their family and friends.

"Mom, Dad" Jaina screamed as she jumped and hugged her mom and dad. Han  
Solo glared at Xander.

Jacen winced. "You're dead." he sighed. "It's a sad fact, but from that balcony, we had full insight into your unusual landing methods." He said, trying not to laugh.

Luke interrupted. "At least your skills in landing have improved, even if the method you use during in-flight is a bit unusual." Not laughing actually hurt.

Tenel-Ka grinned. "That is true." she said. It was a fact after all. Inside, she was having a giggling party, on the outside she looked like a Vulcan.

Xander swallowed. "You saw us?" They all nodded. Jaina whispered. "All of you?" Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker nodded. Leia and Han Solo nodded, as did Anakin and Jacen Solo.

Kyle Katarn nodded as he lighted a cigar. Tenel-Ka said: "Indeed we did."

Corran Horn grinned, "Jupp that sure was a manoeuvre none of my X-wing pilots ever managed to do."

Lowbacka growled out a yes. Beside him his uncle Chewbacca did the same thing.

Even C3-P0 and R2-D2 agreed they had seen it all.

Jaina blushed to an extreme red "I. we, were. I am 17 years old." she blurted out. Considering the multitude of species, aliens, near-humans and sub-cultures on the planet, it did't really meant that much.

Age of consent on Coruscant was seventeen. With the parents' consent, it was fourteen. With some long lived near-humans, the age of consent was twenty-six years. Another type of near-human with a shorter lifespan and childhood had it at twelve. Species of short lived furry aliens had the age of consent at nine years old. But then, their childhood was only eight years and they died of old age before the age of thirty. Alderaan, a place of love and freedom, had a much lower age of consent at only 15. Right now she really hoped her mom remembered that.

Han´s hand was awfully close to where he had his blaster, but looking into the green yellow eyes of the youth in front of him he spoke up to Luke "What kind of asshole is he?"

Luke smiled. "You can trust him. He is something of scoundrel. A good one, like someone else I know."

Han walked up to Xander and looked him in the eyes. "Hurt her and they never ever will find your body."

Xander nodded. "Yes sir."

Jaina started to argue about her dad's overprotective ways. "I am not a child anymore dad. So stop fussing".

Jacen quickly dragged Xander out of harm's way. "So, how was the training with Kyle?"

Xander groaned. "Hard, but interesting. He forced us to learn about everything twenty hours non-stop. With only six hours of sleep. How was it with "Rogue Squadron" and Corran Horn?"

"Twenty hours?" floated in Jacen´s mind. Looking closer at both Xander and his sister, he noticed that their arms and legs were more muscled than before. They also moved with more balance.

"Um, well twelve hours training, then another 4 hours for free studying with help of the other pilots." he said lamely. And he'd believed he had been in hell.

Lowbacka just nodded.

Tenel-Ka came over. "You build a lightsaber then?"

Xander nodded. "Indeed, I have done that. I'm going to ask Master Luke for a test of my skills." he said grinning.

Luke smirked. "Think you can defeat me?"

Xander frowned. "If the force is with me I could. But I do not wish to defeat you. Only to challenge you, so that I can see where I still have to improve my skills." he said. Luke was big on the do or do not principle.

Luke nodded. "The right answer."

Later inside the old Jedi temple, a building that was mostly left alone and now was most often used as a sleeping quarters for visiting Jedi.

The training hall was empty as Luke and Xander walked in and stood watching each other. Xander pulled up his lightsabers. They were locked together, creating a double-bladed weapon.

Grabbing the handle in the middle, he activated both sides. A 1.3 meter green blade at his right side and a shorter 0.30 meter long blade at his left side sprang to life.

Luke blinked; a double-bladed lightsaber was unusual. Normally it was a Sith weapon. His own green blade was activated and he held it in a high guard position.

Above them the Solo's, Mara Skywalker and friends watched.

Then they started to move. Xander danced around, attacking with the long side and then parrying with the shorter side of his blade. Just as Luke managed to force his longer blade down, using his own blade, Xander pushed the release button and the Light-Dagger was free. A quick stab forced Luke to jump back.

Now Luke started to smile. "A lightdagger? Did you know I once had to fight a dark-side witch that used an energy whip? To do that, I had to build a special weapon. R2?" he screamed.

Suddenly there was a burst of air and something was flying through the air and landed in Luke's free hand.

Xander swallowed, it was a short hilt. Luke had a light dagger of his own in his hand. "Here. Now lets dance," Luke said as he activated the blue blade of his light-dagger.

Green, green, yellow and blue clashed with each other at a mad speed as master and student fought, filled not with anger, but with the pure joy of a good challenge. Xander suddenly activated the dual-phase on his lightsaber, making it 2 meters long. He drove Luke back for a short moment, but the master was back again in a moment.

Luke grinned. "That is tricky of you. Remember, skill and experience beats dirty tricks every day." He raised his eyebrows. "Is that all you got?"

Xander shook his head. "No its not", he said as things started to fly around against Luke. A bombardment of broken stones rained down on the Jedi master. Luke just ignored it and danced right through the missiles, deflecting them without any problems.

With a wave of his hand, Luke sent a force push in Xander's direction, which sent the student flying back in the air. Xander landed gracefully on his feet and he dived back into the fight. Just as he almost reached his opponent, there was a tiny stone. Pushed by Luke with telekinesis, it suddenly rolled under Xander's feet as he put down his foot. Without solid ground under his foot, Xander tripped and fell face first to the ground. "Ouch"

Luke nodded. "Good fight, Xander. But remember, not all fights are won by using big and flashy attacks. Sometimes, a tiny rock is all that is needed."

Tired of eating the floor, Xander sat up. "Thanks for the fight Master."  
Above them Kyle nodded. His student had challenged Luke to a fight, which had ended in humiliation. Luke had kicked his butt, with power, skill and sneaky attacks.

Luke nodded. "You have improved much. I agree with Kyle, you are worthy of the title Jedi."

They were desperately in need of every knight they could find. Xander hadn't been the only one to have the vision. Most simply knew hard times were coming.

Only a handful could see that the New Republic itself was falling apart. Corruption was growing fast. What if they would be unable to stop the tide of corruption?

Then the New Republic would fall and they would have to choose a side, which was the feeling he was getting.

A proud Jaina walked down to get a chance at her uncle, while Xander walked away so he could watch them from the side.

Jacen leaned over to Lowbacka. "We need to train, really hard." The wookiee nodded.

*

Later in Han and Leia's home

Xander watched out over the balcony, which was a thousand floors up from ground level. He could see clouds moving below from where he was sitting.  
A steel-glass dome around the balcony kept the atmosphere breathable.  
Somewhere below him, he could almost spot the repulsion ring that kept the building stable.

It was a building for the rich. Leia's work as a senator and as head of state made them rich. Han Solo's own stint as a smuggler and as a general hadn't hurt either.

But empty spaces were a luxury on this planet and this apartment showed that the Solo's were well off by having huge unnecessaryly big rooms with high ceilings.

"I'm never going to get used to this." Xander said as he felt Han Solo walk out right beside him.

The older man frowned. "What do you mean kid?"

Xander turned and watched him from the corner of his eyes. "That here. Buildings this high and a whole city over a complete world? That is impossible where I came from."

He turned. "Earth was a small world. It's only been a few decades since our scientist build the first chemical based rocket, which managed to land on our moon. No repulsors, just a chemical engine that blasted a tiny crew out into space. A parachute, a type of soft gliding wing, made it possible for the rocket's escape pod to land."

He turned and looked out. He could sense that Leia and Jaina were listing to him. "Flying airplanes, aerodynamic jets powered by propeller driven engines, are only about 100 years old. Travel from one end of the world to the other takes hours today. Hundreds of different languages exist on Earth. Less than a hundred years ago, crossing the world took almost a year."

Chewbacca joined the family together with Anakin.

Xander ignored it. "And behind that was the subculture, vampires and demons. Vampires are a parasitic type of life form. They re-animated a dead human and to survive they needed blood, human blood. Most humans refuse to believe vampires exist. They are great at hiding that they do. Only a small number of champions actually fight them. Four to five times faster and stronger than a normal human and most of them like to torture, rape and make a human suffer before they drain them of blood."

"Why only a small number? Why do most not know that they exist?" Leia asked.

Xander frowned. "Because vampires and demons like to hide and strike from behind, they have a skill in hiding, they have used it generation after generation until most of humanity had forgotten that they exist. Only in certain places, like Sunnydale, a constant hidden war is being fought. In the rest of the world, a hunter actually has to track down the beasts."

He sighed. "I belonged to a group who fought against them. We risked our life with no pay and cost free. Then it happened, humans, gold and a part of a whole city vanished. Then suddenly a creature of pure light, an angel, followed by a beast of pure darkness and evil, a demon, entered our base. They told us that someone in an alternate reality had found an artefact to open a gate between our and their dimension. Unless it was stopped, Earth would be destroyed. They could not stop the end of earth themselves, as different laws of nature would hinder them. But a mortal like me, could be adapted."

Han nodded, Luke had said something about the kid being from an alternate dimension, and neither had Leia. "I bet there was some hook if you left."

Xander nodded. "Anyone going would go on a one way trip. No way to return home." He turned around watching the cloud. "It's times like this, that I really miss my home. Willow turns 18 today. "

"Who is Willow?" Jaina asked curiously.

Xander answered her. "A friend of mine, we had been friends since we were five years old. She is a shy over intelligent young woman. We promised to always be there for each other and now here I am." Swallowing hard he said. "Now, someone said something about dinner?"

Leia nodded and smiled. "C3-p0 has set the table. And perfect, just in time. Luke and Mara are at the door. Anakin, could you open it for them?"

Later that night

Han, Anakin, Xander and Chewbacca were sitting at the table, talking about starships. It had started with Xander telling them about the make believe movie Star Trek. Leia and Jacen had moved away as they had started to talk about improving ships with different engines and sensor systems VS weapon improvement.

Luke was sitting nearby. Listening, but baby Ben Skywalker was still sleeping and he would get angry if daddy started to talk. So Luke was silent as he listened and watched his sleeping child.

Han reminded Xander he could get republic engineering to upgrade his ship. As a Jedi he would get a pay check. Also the reward from the spice hidden in the ship could possibly pay for some of it. Not much but still.

As the night was moving on and on, one by one they said goodnight. Tomorrow they would be knighted and register as "New Republic Jedi Knights".

*

The next day

It was a big and pompous ritual, where important senators and famous stars watched the 25 nervous young Jedi Knights marching up to Jedi Master  
Luke Skywalker.

Jacen, being six hours younger then Jaina, was the youngest. Lowbacka was actually nineteen and the oldest of the teenagers. But being from a species that could live over 300 years meant that Lowbacka was no more than 15 himself in Wookiee years.

The oldest was a 31 years old Duros with pale blue skin and a mouth that looked like it was stuck in a permanent sour mood. But Xander remembered him from Yavin 4. He was a happy guy. The Duros showed their happiness with eye and hand movements. Head leaning towards you and eyes half closed were signs of happiness.

Dressed in Jedi robes they marched up, one after another, showing Luke their lightsabers and swearing the Jedi code, before they took a place behind him.

Xander gave Jaina a thin smile, as it was the Solo twins turn. For political reasons they went first. He was lucky that he was not the first. In a standard Jedi robe, black with dark green pants under it, he looked dashing. At least, according to the tailor droid's and Jaina's opinion.

Then it was his turn, only poor Lowbacka and four others were still standing behind him.

The rest of the ceremony was foggy in his mind. With holo-cameras and reporters he could barely hold breakfast down.

*

**5. 3-1**

Knight away. 3-1

Note: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable.

*

Later

Xander was not amused when they somehow had a picture of the landing he and Jaina did at the freaking press conference. A blue skinned human reporter grinned, as he asked if that was the normal landing method the Jedi used.

Xander walked down from the podium, his eyes gleaming green and yellow, slowly glittering from the light of the camera. "A real reporter would do his best to find real news. Not going around like a pimp trying to sell others like a whore." There was silence. "Now if you have a real question, ask it. If not, leave this place and let the real reporters work."

The reporter stuttered. "I have the right to ask questions."

Xander just watched him and the guy suddenly became aware just how strong the young man looked and just how cold his eyes were at that moment.

Somewhere inside of him, a real reporter was hidden and he asked: "As a new Jedi, what do you think about the rumours that more and more system are complaining about the lack of action the Republic is showing against slavers."

Xander smiled. "Excellent question, sadly I do not know much about that situation. But unfortunately I have firsthand experience that in some areas of space the smuggling of spice seems to be done quite openly. I am sure they are doing all they can to correct the situation. And 25 new Jedis is only a beginning, it will take more than just us. The Republic is not a one man show, it's a team effort. It will take help from all members of the Republic. Do not ask what the Republic can do for us. Ask what WE can do for the Republic."

He walked back, hoping the ghost of John F Kennedy would not be too pissed at him.

The reporters were silent for a long moment and then they started to bombard him with questions.

Xander ignored the stupid ones, but with Jaina's help, he gave the best answers he could.

*

One hour later

"The Do not ask what the New Republic can do for you, Ask what you can do for the New Republic," speech was on everyone's lips. So was the phrase, "The Republic is not a one man show, it's a team effort."

By the time they had a late dinner and moved over to the Republic Engineering building, most of the core worlds knew what he said.

Not knowing anything about that, Xander walked in to the hangars to find an official in the engineering circle.

Jaina dropped him like he was yesterday's news as she saw an X-wing J model. With a cruising speed of 110 Mglt and a max off 440 Mglt, only a handful of ships, like the A-wing, could fly faster. But almost no ship was that fast, that deadly and that strong and yet so small.

Xander blinked as he walked over to her. "So, you want one of those?"

Looking at the price tag he swallowed. Wow that was expensive. But as a Jedi, she could get one on extended loan. Free of charge. After all, what good was a Jedi, unless he could find his way to the place where the trouble was.

Finally the engineer officer in charge arrived. "So you need a ship?  
I have the papers and a new X-wing could be yours. Of course, legally it's on an extended loan. But if you are still flying the same ship nine years from now, it's yours, permanently. And anytime you like, you could buy it, as a used star fighter."

High powered ships like X-wings aged faster than the slower cargo ships. But that was to be expected.

Jaina nodded. "Please give me the papers. I love X-wings." The engineer, a Major, as Xander could, see turned to him. "Well, I will not ask what you can do for me, I will ask, what I can do for you" he said, grinning.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Great, I have an old Ghtroc 720 with a class 5 engine, standard shields and weapons, which I would like to upgrade a bit. I also would like to include an unusual upgrade if possible."

The engineer nodded. "Normally this would take time and cost a lot of money, but a lot of my crew just saw you on the holo-news and they bragged about how they would like to help you and the republic, if they could. I'm sure they'd love to put in some extra work, free of charge." he grinned.

Talking with the crew, Xander soon got them interested. The pay from the bounty was not much, but it was still worth some. Jacen, with the help of Mirrax Horn, Corran Horn's wife, had sold the old massasi weapons to a collector.

Between Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Tenel-Ka it was not much, but Tenel-Ka had refused her part of the money for a good personal reason.

Jacen had explained to Xander that Tenel-Ka was the crown princess off the Harpes-system, which was one of the richest empires in the galaxy and that had shocked him for sure. He had always believed she was like him, from a primitive world. Apparently Tenel-ka's mother was a princess from a primitive world that her father fell in love with. She just liked her mother's culture more.

A class 6 engine was not what he wanted, but it was what the most realistic choice and they would take the old class five. The price difference for a used class five engine would be reduced from the class 6 engine price.

Two pairs of quad-laser cannons would also be installed.

Then he gave the engineers a building request. He wanted a pocket hangar ship. So he asked if they could adapt his 35 meter long Ghtroc cargo space to hold two X-wings.

The Ghtroc had a capacity of 135 metric tons for cargo, dived in two cargo holds of 67 metric tons each. They started a computer simulation in the engineering room, which took some time, until late into the night. Both Jaina and Anakin joined in happily, trying to find a solution.

Somehow the talk had spread and Corran Horn and an engineer from the  
Rogue Squadron had entered the room to help also. Apparently a pocket hangar carrier was a new idea. Refuelling-ships existed and external docking was not unusual. But a micro hangar ship was not that common.

*

A week later

The Enterprise was in the starship yard for a complete rebuild. A new class 7 engine that somehow had become available as a gift from Rogue Squadron was to be installed. They liked the idea. Kyle had found him a pair of Class 3 shield units. So now he also had military grade shields.

He got a pair of slightly used quad-laser cannons for a great price. They were just like the Falcon cannons. He had rigged them so that he could fire them from the cockpit, only limited to the front arc of the ship.

The hangar space was tiny. Hardly any to room to move was left, if a pair of X-wings was docked, but it worked. The hangar doors were the hardest part to install. They had to increase the height of his ship around the door. And extend the length of the ship about five meters. That caused the cargo area to expand, without an X-wing docked, to now carry 200 metric tons. So even with all the new heavy and bigger equipment installed, there was more room inside now.

From the junk yard he and Anakin found a pair of landing claws to install on the landing gears. Other than that, he installed sun-lamps in the galley and a small bubble pool to increase the comfort. But the amount of available passenger space shrunk from 10 to only 5 + 1. He had also installed a jail cell, in case he needed to transport a criminal. All on his ship except one (the cell) would now have a bit more luxury.

Thanks to RogueSquadron, who bought the idea of the design, he managed to pay the things he wanted to have for his ship. He was told that they had started to rebuild a pair of transports into micro-hangar ships.

It was not a luxury ship, but still had a lot of comfort. All in all, he was happy and flat-out broke.

He believed that it was most likely thanks to Jaina's friends and family that he got such good prices on the things he bought. But even so he was a poor man again.

Once he made some money, he would buy an improved sensor system for the ship. Right now the X-wing sensor system was still better than what he had.

Then a call from Luke reached him. The republic had the need for a pair of Jedi, to meditate a dispute and then move on as Jedi watchmen near a rough area of space.

Watchmen, it was a dangerous, but also an independent mission. Mostly older or a pair of Jedi were asked to do that. Sadly, there were not enough Jedi around to fill that need.

Waiting at the temple was a Jedi Xander did not recognise, but Jaina knew him. "It's Streen," she whispered while she smiled at the old man.

Xander nodded, he had heard her tell about him. Part of his Jedi powers were: active and out of control when Luke found him. He had telepathic skills, but was unable to turn them off. When Luke found him, he lived as a hermit only with birds as his friends. As Luke asked him to join him and become a Jedi, he agreed on the condition that Luke would teach him how to turn off his telepathic ability.

Still, the old man's gift with the mind arts was impressive. Most Jedi had to work hard to read a mind. Streen could read hundreds of peoples surface thoughts without even trying and with some effort he could look deep inside a person's mind. Streen's problem was stopping himself from reading the minds of others.

He was a bit aloof, always avoiding skin contact, and looked shy. But he loved to be around others, as long as he did not try to read their minds.

The old man smiled at Jaina. "Hi, you sure have grown up." The first time he saw that girl, she was only two and now for the first time in a year, he relaxed his mind defence and took a peek inside Xander's mind to make sure the young man would not hurt Jaina.

"Um, right you had information for us?" Xander asked.

Streen smiled, that was a good kid, a stranger from a strange land. "Yes. I have it written down in a data pad. But the short story: You have to go to the Minos Cluster. It's a small sector in the outer rim that contains about 70 worlds where humans could live. Only a fraction of them are containing any sentient life.

The Cluster has two native alien races. The Kari came from the world of Karideph. They are group intelligence. One Kari has the IQ of an animal. But a group of about 100 have an advanced intelligence equal to genius human level. On that planet there are groups of millions.

Quockra-4 was a dessert world. It is the home of the second officially known alien species. They are disgusted by the appearance and the smell most other beings have, especially humans. All their affairs are handled with droids as go-betweens. They are fascinated by the return of the Jedi's. Expect having some talks with them. We believe they are snail like beings.

The cluster also has about 10 lost worlds, left over from lost human colonies. Some are low tech, others are Stone Age. Among the more powerful worlds is firstly the Adarlon system, which is a big producer of holo-movies. Then the Mestra system, which holds one of the biggest asteroid fields in the galaxy, making it also one of the richest. The Yelsain system is a group of low tech barbarians with a democratic anarchism government. The Pergitor system is a theocracy, an especially vicious one. The religion is the law. They consider any supernatural ability to be against the gods. Gesaril is a system we know nothing about. The Empire had no information about it except that it is at Stone Age level and that they were ordered from above to leave it alone. Further out in the system, they had a watch post and an asteroid prison. Travnin was the former Imperial headquarters. It is suffering from economical depression right now. The Eliad system is a former world of exile. There were many rich nobles that the Emperor could and would not kill, because he needed favours of them. Many of them were moved to Eliad. Some have moved back, but now second and third generation Eliadians consider Eliad to be their home world. They are rich and have culture from many worlds. They also consider themselves to be elite. It's not unusual for them to have powerful connections with people in the core worlds.

The Shesharile system with the twin worlds of Shesharile 5 and 6 is according to the report we have a pair of worlds that is in the hands of criminal gangs. It is also the place where you are going to meditate peace."

Jaina nodded. "Who are we meditating between?"

"Shesharile 5 and 6 are trying to make affairs with Mestra, but they have difficulties coming to an agreement and the two twin worlds have started to argue. Also, the gang activity is going out of control. Especially the swoop gangs on 5 are deadly; a real gang war has broken out. A big gang war, as far as I've heard." answered Streen.

Xander sighed. "And that is the short story? It looks like we have to earn our pay." Jaina nodded. It sounded interesting.

Streen nodded. "Remember what Luke said. Nothing stops you from getting any extra work. Not only would it get you some extra money, but you would also learn more of your new home."

He looked at Jaina. "Be warned, Adarlon is a colony created by Alderaan colonists, about 50 years before the planets destruction. From the holo movies made on that planet, they consider you and your mother to be a true princess and a hero. Do not let the fame and glitter blind you. It's always Shesharile first. You will also have a Republic specialist with you. A team of diplomats awaits you."

They said goodbye to the old man, keeping their distance for his sake. Xander smiled as he walked out, something about the old man made him relax.

Behind them the old man sat down, looking through the window, enjoying the emptiness in his mind. Only his own thoughts were inside of his mind now, as long as he kept the walls up.

*

A bit later at the Solo's home

Chaos was the nature of the place. Jacen and Lowbacka had a mission of their own and like Xander and Jaina, were packing. Currently the two twins were arguing over whose mission sucked the most.

Lowbacka and Xander relaxed, Xander had everything he needed already onboard the Enterprise.

Leia looked like she wanted to cry, her baby's were adults.

Anakin looked like he wanted to join them. Being only 13 sucked. "Anakin, what would you say about helping me double check the Enterprise?" Xander offered the young man.

He grinned. "Sure." He knew that ship like the back of his hand. After all, he was one of the gang that helped to improve it.

Han and Chewbacca that had been hiding from sight, so that Jaina and Jacen would not ask THEM to help packing. "Right, let's go" they said.

Leia rolled her eyes as they left.

Behind them Jaina stuck out her head. "Finally, they left. Mom do you think I should take with me this see-through teddy or just buy some sexy lingerie when I'm there?"

Leia walked up. "Let me see. This is expensive." She studied the fabric. "I know me and Han had lots of fun in the Falcon." She grinned.

A voice came from the other room: "Mom! Now I'm never going to be able to enter the Falcon again!"

Jaina giggled. "Mom what do you think of this? Its panties you can eat." she said, holding up a pack.

Again from the other room: "NO Jaina. Arch. I don't want to know." Her brother screamed as he rushed out.

*

Later in the ship

Xander crawled out of the gun turret. "It's in perfect order." he said, trying to remember if he had forgotten anything else. "Ion engines? Perfect." He said looking at the check list.

No nothing, his own weapons right. Double checked. Flight plan checked. Time of arrival checked. The diplomats would use an older military shuttle with only a hyperspace engine class 2. His ship had a new military hyper drive class 1. Not as good as the Falcons, that had a class 0.5 hyper drive.

The journey would take the Enterprise four days. While the diplomats would spend eight days in hyperspace, they would make a two day stop and stretch their legs. So in 10 days they would have to be in the Minos cluster.

The orders were clear; the diplomats would arrive first and make way for them. A day after, at the earliest, Jaina and he would arrive. They suggested arriving two days after the arrival of the diplomats.  
So 12 days. Sometimes having a fast ship sucked, or did it? "Hmm," Xander said to himself.

Both he and Jaina had rushed and packed their stuff already. Even asked for lift off time from the space control station at the nearest convenient time after the military specialist joined them.

"Read this Jaina." Xander said and was silent as she groaned. "12 days."

Xander nodded. "If you read the small print, it's actually 13-14 days."

She sighed and looked at him. "What are we going to do? I refuse to pack up my stuff again," she finished.

Xander grinned. "Vacation, I'm sure that there is a nice planet between the Minos cluster and here where we can make a short stop."

Jaina grinned, "And the expert that they send with us?"

Xander shrugged. "He will be here soon. Let's look over the nav-computer and find a good place for a stay over."

Captain Junas Turner looked at the ship. It was an extended Ghtroc with hangar doors. Interesting for sure, a tiny ship like that as a hangar carrier? Well, the X-wings have only one week of consumables on them. A pilot could spend days in the tiny cockpit and that was hard on most pilots. So having a micro hangar ship could be useful for any squadron, giving the pilots a chance to stretch their legs for a while. Unlike a big hangar ship this would be easy to build and cheap compared to real hangar ships. He had no clue why nobody had thought about this before.

Knocking on the hatch, a young man opened it. "Yes, what can I help you with?"

The man said: "I am Captain Junas Turner, I think you have been expecting me?" holding up his data-card order.

Xander took the data-card and read it in his data-pad reader. "I see, welcome on board then, Captain Turner. I am Alexander Harris. You can call me Xander or Alexander."

The captain nodded. "Please call me Junas" he said as he entered the ship.

Xander nodded. "Right Junas, so you are Republic navy exploration? What is it you do?"

Junas shrugged. "Explore potentially hostile worlds. In fact, I was the first scout that found Endor and the Second Death Star. But sadly I got captured by the Empire before I had a chance to report. Nobody knew where I had vanished to and two years after the Second Death Star was destroyed I managed to escape a top security prison."

Xander laughed. "That was bad luck," he said.

Junas agreed. "I know pure chance and a faulty nav-com. I found the biggest danger I ever saw and then I got captured." He grinned. They had sent him here to keep an eye out on the kids and also to spy on them. There were fractions of the Republic that disliked the Jedi. He did not belong to either side yet.

The tour of the ship had him easily impressed. They even had extended the fuel capacity, with extra fuel carried in the emptied hangar. One would have an X-wing parked and extra fuel would be stored in the other.

He watched the teens talk about where to go, a short discussion later they reported their flight path.

**6. 3-2**

Note: Tx to Inachis for making this story more readable

3-2

Later in hyperspace

Junas studied the Minas cluster. It was a new area of space. A long time ago, using generation ships and hyper-warp engines, the first version of hyper drive was used, with crew and passengers in deep sleep.

Part of it had been colonized around 20 000 years ago, just before the hyper drive was invented. (The Hyper-warp is limited to the speed of light.) Then the Minos cluster had been forgotten.

Because of the badly explored hyper path, ships had to move around many objects that slowed them down. So while going a quarter across the galaxy using the Correlian trade route would take only about 4 days, jumping inside the Minos cluster from one end to the other would take almost 9 days. It was actually faster in some areas of Minos Cluster to jump outside and use the Trade route. Fast and stable jump paths where worth a fortune if you could find them.

Hours after the ship entered hyperspace Xander and Jaina joined him in the gallery. Junas looked over them as they snuggled tighter in the sofa. "So, where are we going?"

Xander smiled. "We are going to make maximum use of the time we have. Our ship can take the journey in only 4 days. They wanted us there in 13-14 days."

Junas nodded. "So where are we going?" At first he believed the two young Jedi had rushed out forgetting to even look at when they were going to be there. Apparently they had a plan.

Jaina grinned. "First we're going to Ord-Mantel. The New Republic has a navy base there, where they train starship pilots. Rogue Squadron is currently training there." She waved her hand around. "These ships, as well as the X-wing, are new to us. Both Xander and me need desperately to learn how to fully use our ships." she said, lying through her teeth. Both of them had come up with this idea at the spur of the moment.

Xander nodded. "We are also going to research the background situation on the Shesharile and Mestra systems. That's where YOU are coming in. Your contacts with New Republic army and Navy, as a scout, are much greater than our own. And we might need any information you could help us find."

He grinned. "We also might need your help to separate between useful and useless information."

Junas Turner nodded. "I see. That's a good plan. I myself found it strange that the diplomatic core wanted you to arrive after they had arrived. But reading up on the Shesharile and the Mestra system, I found the reason. Since the old times they have had a deep respect for the Jedi. But on Shesharile they have a tradition of House Patriarchs and Matriarchs.

Shesharile tradition has mostly collapsed with the economical catastrophe they suffered, but it still exist among the leaders." He looked at them. "The oldest of a family is considered by age to be the source of wisdom.

And age is to be respected, but a young person can be a leader if he shows that he is willing to listen and respect his elders. In Mestra they have it bit different. Between 15 and up to 30 is consider the play time. Young men and women are supposed to have romantic affairs, fun and gain new friends that can later become important connections. Responsibilities come later in life."

Jaina nodded. "So they are going in advanced to make sure they at least allow us young kids to help them." she said.

Junas nodded. "Most of the elders of Shesharile expect you to talk with respect and be silent if an older person is talking, but they accept young beings if they are respectful to the elders. The adults of Mestra are a bit different, they do not expect respect from young person's like you. Instead they do believe you are too young to be responsible." He grinned "And that will make it hard for them to listen to you."

Xander groaned as in pain. "Perfect. It's just getting better and better."

Junas laughed. "And don't forget the gang wars on Shesharile."

Xander nodded. "I have been thinking of getting a swoop myself," he said, grinning. They were like a motorcycle, but with speeds up to 800 mph and flight altitudes between ground zero up to 40 meters, depending on the model. Some rare models of swoops could fly up to 300 meter.

A swoop was a combined repulsor and ion engine and almost nothing more than that. Even the Scout-troopers repulsor bikes like the ones Luke and Leia used on Endor, were bigger.

Riding a swoop is like riding a proton torpedo and perhaps just about as safe. He had the chance to test one on Yavin 4. It was like riding a flying Harley-Davidson.

Jaina grinned. "You do know that they are illegal on many worlds?"

Xander shrugged. "Still there are some where they are legal." He leaned forward. "Besides, finding a good place to buy a swoop or two would give me a chance to investigate and find information ON the swoop gangs." He frowned. "Crap. I had forgotten I'm broke."

Jaina giggled. "Remember, the Republic is paying us for this mission and for giving Junas over there a ride. You still don't have the cash, but luckily you have a wonderful girlfriend who agrees with you. That would give us inside information from the street. So I'm giving you the money." she said smiling.

Junas nodded. It was a good plan. "They do have swoop racing, which is extremely popular, almost a national sport. That could be a place to get information."

*

23 hour later, the Enterprise had entered orbit over the planet Ord-Mantel.

Jaina was talking to the officer in command. It took almost 35 minutes before the idiot called a captain to the radio. Apparently he thought that only navy personal could land on the base. Civilians had to land on the civilian space port.

Minutes later

The Enterprise entered the small gates to the huge underground hangar, which the republic used as a star fighter training base. Not just any kind of training base, experienced units were send here, if they needed to re-train a new pilot to their units. This was not a base for rookies; this base was for skilled and elite pilots.

Around them they could see X-wing after X-wing. But also A-Wings, B-  
Wings and Y-wing mark 2's. It was a much faster craft than the old one they had used against the Death Star. Y-Wing Mark 2 had a Class 9 engine, which gave them a cruising speed of 90 Mglt and max speed of 320 Mglt.

The Enterprise with a Class 7 engine had a cruising speed of 70 with a Max. of 280 Mglt. The same as the Mark 1 Y-wing had. Compared to the X-wing with its cruising speed of 110 mglt and a max speed of 440 or the cruising speed of the A-wing which was 120, the Y-wing was still a slow ship that earned its name as a pig. But even then the Y-wing was still one of the best attack ships that existed.

Xander, who had been reading up on fighters the last week, thanks to Jaina, knew this and was watching as the hangar personal waved him to a landing pad near a cargo ship. An Yt-1300 like the Falcon, but so modified that he was not quite sure.

After landing and powering down they exited the ship. Outside waiting were a Captain, a Major and a Colonel. Wing Commander Corran Horn was not there.

Jaina and Xander walked to them and gave them a slight bow. "May the Force be with you."

They bowed in return as they presented themselves.

Colonel Ashira Weldon. "Base commander" he said proudly.

The Captain: "Alina Brighter. Rogue Squadron"

Major Gavin Darklighter. "Acting Commander of Rogue squadron, until Commander Horn returns," he said with pride.

Gavin grinned at seeing the Jedi. He grew up on Tatooine, when he was a whiny kid Luke was the big old teenager that he wanted to hang around with.

Jaina frowned. "Uncle Luke said he had a friend named Darklighter."

Gavin nodded. "My older cousin, he and Luke flew against the first Death Star together, he died there. He was my older cousin, 10 years older than I was. But I remember running after him and Luke on Tatooine. Luke was 18 then and I was around 10 years old." he grinned.

Captain Junas presented himself.

*

Later in the galley

Gavin and the base commander agreed that they would be honoured to give the two Jedi a crash course in piloting. But in Xander case, they were fighter pilots. Not a slow Barge driver. But they were sure a Y-wing pilot could help him.

And help they got.

With only 8 days worth of training time before they would have to jump, Xander and Jaina took full use of the fact that they could lessen their own need of sleep. Even as the Rogue pilots bragged about the speed of their ships and the sad slow depressing and worthless speed of a bulk-ship like Xander's light transport, they still helped him a lot.

Jaina, who had lessons in piloting from her dad Han Solo, knew much of what they were teaching, but even she learned a trick or two about space transports. But she focused on her X-wing and used the time wisely to fly in simulations and mock fighting against the other pilots.

Captain Junas was also getting new information, the number of pirates operating from the Minos cluster was growing. Also slave traders were attacking poorly defended planets in the cluster.

*

7 Days later

Jaina was holding up her lightsaber and behind her was Xander with his pair of lightsabers. Surrounding them were 12 training remote droids which firing their stingers at them. (Stingers were tiny blasters. The training remote Ben let Luke use in A New Hope.)

This was group training. It would be great to be able to fight as a team. With blast helmets on they blind and always had to make sure where the other one was made it all even more difficult.

"By the Force!" Julipe, a young tech, said as he watched the two Jedi dance around and parry blaster bolts from the stinger guns the remotes had.

Gavin nodded. "Julipe, go and get the other Rogues and personal, this is a show of a lifetime." he said. The girl rushed away.

Outside the fight started for real.

The 12 remotes swirled around as they started to fire. Xander danced around and parried a bolt with his dagger as he reached out with his sword, reflecting a second bolt back at the firing remote, turning it off-line for nine seconds.

Behind him Jaina's lightsaber swept through the air and she sent two bolts into the ground while dodging a third one.

Jumping, parrying, reflecting and dodging, when the remotes programmed training time of one hour was done, both of them where drenched in sweat, tired and also hurting from the stinger bolts that had hit them.

Jaina grinned. "We have to do that more often. Team training is really fun." She was silent as they saw that the whole base had been watching them.

Xander started. "And that's all off the show for today." he said, bowing with a grin.

Gavin grinned back. "That was one hell of a show." he said.

Waving them to walk with him he spoke up. "Listen. I heard rumours that the  
Jedi are being asked to go on suicide missions. Darkness is growing in the Republic and someone in the Senate is purposely sending you guys out without proper backup."

He sighed. "From the look of it they are trying to limit the number of Jedi. The Minos cluster is full of hidden bases where slavers and pirates operate from and they will not be happy having two Jedi interfering with what they do."

Seeing that he had captured their attention, he held forward a tiny hyperspace radio. "Use this if you find yourself in over your head. The moment you do, Rogue Squadron or Wraith Squadron will come flying in as fast as they can."

No way was he going to let General Solo's daughter die, especially as she was also Luke's niece.

They nodded as they took the radio. "Thanks" Jaina said.

Inside the restaurant Junas was telling a squadron of A-wing pilots how he, thanks to a navigational error, almost became famous for discovering that the Second Death Star was at Endor way before the Bothans finally did find it, and he had evidence that his story was true.

The great story of almost becoming famous and a hero to the republic was always popular, and Junas had learned how to tell it well and humorously. Another good thing about it was that it was also a real hero story and the escape from the computer and droid controlled prison was the stuff of legends.

Thanks to his courage and the help of a young Ewok who could copy droid speech perfectly with the help of a flute, they had escaped just in time to see the victory party. And his heroic story was mostly forgotten.

Just like he wanted it mostly, but not totally, forgotten, he got a bit of fame, but was not worshiped. He also made great friends on Endor and his story often got him a beer or two for free.

Six Days later the Enterprise entered the Shesharile system and landed on Shesharile 5. A group of diplomats and local politicians had welcomed them to the planet.

*

Later in a fine room at the Republic embassy

Jaina let the light from the roof mirror in her drink as she talked to the Republic chief ambassador. "So how would you like to start? At the meetings we can listen and detect some lies, not all mind you, but we can help you discover when somebody is holding back or trying to misguide you. We can also try to mediate successful negations, give you hints at what kind of compromises would be acceptable." she said.

Standing behind her with one arm on her shoulder stood Xander looking at the room with a lazy look in his eyes. The locals of Shesharile were underestimating them and considered them nothing, but a showpiece.

Xander nodded. "From what input I got from the Mestra representative, there is something more that they want from Shesharile 5+6." The Republic diplomat turned his eyes towards him. "Could you find out what?"

Xander shrugged. "No idea."

Jaina frowned. "It's something big. I feel greed and he holds a secret that he does not wish us to know."

Acaruc the Diplomat, a Mon-Calamari, nodded his big fish like head. "I see." He looked out. "Shesharile is desperate. They need the contracts with the Mestra system. Just as the Mestra system needs them. They could earn twice as much with their metal if they could sell it from a planet." The Mestra was a gigantic asteroid field which filled a whole solar system, even retching far outside the normal orbits.

And it took a steady hand and a good pilot to navigate the Mestra system. It was also rich in valued metals and minerals. But buyers chose less dangerous systems to trade with. If they had a planetary partner like Shesharile 5+6, they could easily double their profit.

Shesharile 5+6 on the other hand desperately needed the money and work. It had suffered a complete economical collapse around the time of Endor.  
Unemployment had been over 90 %.

The twin planets had started to recover only recently. But instead of cooperating, Mestra was arguing, playing both planets against each other, trying to get as much out of the situation as possible.

*

Outside they could see the sun vanish behind the Gas giant Shesharile 1.

Shesharile 5 had entered the long night. 26 hours of darkness, something that would happen every now and then. First, there would be two normal days with 22 hours a day, then a long night followed, where both Shesharile 5 and 6 entered the shadow of the giant. Not that it was complete dark, the giant itself seemed to glow with its own light, and gigantic storms gave it a spook like appearance.

Acaruc nodded. "So what are your suggestions?"

Xander said: "Jaina and I will follow you. She does the talking. I just look polite, but dangerous."

Jaina nodded. "If I'm correct, there is a ball tonight and the talk is going to start tomorrow, right?" she asked, knowing she was right.

*

Later

The ball was less boring than Xander had expected, with many of older dignitaries that brought their families with them. You could see a direct difference between the Mesta and the Shesharile.

The natives from Shesharile 5+6 were dressed in humble, yet fine quality. They treated the older persons with deep respect. But the older people also listened carefully to the younger generation's ideas.

Their culture was clear. Being older meant you deserved respect for living longer than others. But a young person could be a leader and have others respect him, even though he still had to treat older people polite.

Then the Mestra, the youngest of the dignitaries was around 35 years old. The oldest was 79. Around them they had plenty of youths that had joined their mothers and fathers for a fun experience of travelling. The Mestra between ages of 15 up to 30 were in what they called the play age. They were essentially out of school, having fun doing extra studies and expected to not to break the law too much. They had no responsibility forced on them or nothing was expected of them.

Some of them called themselves Saber-Rakers and used a Light-foil around an energy coil that produced an energy field around it. A light-foil could be used as a less powerful Lightsaber. The Saber-Rakers were professional duellist and pretended to be noble, squealing about honour and fame.

A light-Foil and a sporting blaster had become the weapon of choice for the rich and stupid, at least in the Mestra system.

Then there was the way how they were dressed. Stunning and dashing in the latest fashion from the core worlds, with lots of jewellery and gems. It gave a cheap image of spoiled rich boys.

There were other groups there, some famous holo-stars from Adarlon, who were hanging around Jaina, calling her princess.

The last group impressed Xander though, the nobles from Eliad.

When Palpatine rose to power, there were nobles from many core worlds who were considered problematic. He could not kill them, because that could have created martyrs. So he exiled them to Eliad.

Some of them were corporate nobles others came from royal houses across the galaxy. The one thing the families of Eliad had in common was that they were all rich. The noble of Mestra looked poor compared to the old money of Eliad. Most of the nobles in this party were born on Eliad and had never seen the worlds their families came from.

But still they were dressed in an expensive, yet simple style. Tasteful and beautiful, their jewellery improved how they looked. They had style and were masters of word games. Often talking slow and in a diffusing manner, taking their time and making you listen to each word, until the listener sometimes forgot what they were actually talking about. Word duels were a planetary sport for them.

Irony was considered a sharp blade. Give an Eliad noble the chance and they would make your pride bleed to death. And just like Jaina and himself, they despised the newly rich Mestra nobles.

But even among them, there were youths using the light-foils. Standing near Jaina, Xander gave the impression that he was a dangerous body guard. Only a handful had the guts to talk to him. Which was probably for the best, he thought.

Jaina, who had grown up with a mother who was, for a short while, the Chief of State, the president, of the "New Republic", knew those political games and was a master in them.

As the music started to play and a youth from Mestra dressed like a dashing pirate asked Jaina for a dance, Xander was left alone.

He could see Jaina suddenly smile and blush to the youth, almost stuttering as she took his hand and was led to the dance floor. But one look from Jaina, as she used the Force to send over an idea, put Xander's mind to rest. "Xander, try to be more social. I'm sure one of those fools knows what Mestra wants."

Xander's smile was hidden, as he walked or rather glided over to the drink table. He took a glass of something bubbly that tasted almost like strawberries and then he walked over to the Mestra youths.

"Yes yes. She is the daughter of Organa, so of course she is beautiful. Even if she has the blood of a mongrel like Han Solo mixed in." A black haired man said before giggling into his hand. "But just watch at the brute who is with her, could you say Gamorean anyone? I am surprised he can walk upright and they let something like that call itself a Jedi." The youths laughed.

"Wonderful party." he said as he stood right behind the young man who had mocked him. The man was perhaps 25, older then he was, but behaved like a spoiled child. He enjoyed the surprise and shock they felt over him being there.

The man spun around. "I…" he stuttered.

Xander smiled. "Do you have a problem talking?"

"What?" he said in surprise.

Xander nodded: "And understanding when others talk, as well?"

The youths around them started to laughed as the dark haired man was made to look like a fool.

Xander grinned at a beautiful pale red-haired girl, 19-22 years old. "As listening to his inability to talk is boring, why don't the two of us try this dance?" he said, bowing to the girl who smiled at him from behind her hand.

As he and the red-haired walked out to the dance floor, he could see that the youths from Eliad were smiling. They had enjoyed that.

*

Hours later

Xander was talking and joking with a bunch of youths from Mestra and Eliad, although he was mostly listening, and pretended to be interested in their duel-tradition. So far the youths or perhaps young adults from Eliad had managed to insult the youths from Mestra over nine times without them even discovering the hidden insults they had been subjected to, and he was almost sure they had given him at least one insult or compliment.

Down in the flower garden, Jaina had a more successful talk. The man, a youth of 26 years, who was drunk as a skunk, had bragged about the gas mining rights they would trick away from Shesharile 5+6.

Finally, with a tiny abuse of the Force Jaina said: "You feel sleepy." She walked away as the youth sat down to rest.

Nodding to Xander, she walked over. "My my, have you replaced me already?" she said, seeing a bimbo hanging on Xander's arm.

Xander frowned. "Jaina, you know I would never do that. But I had to save her from the wonder boy she was with first." He said waving his hand in the direction of the dark-haired man.

Jaina raised an eyebrow. "Really, that's awful" she said.

Xander nodded. "O yes. His eyes are lacking the ability to see the difference between a general and a common mongrel or a human and a Gamorean. It must have been awful for her. Who knows? If I left her alone him, he might have kissed her brother instead of her." he said, smiling.

The insults were clear as crystal and the youth was fingering his light-foil.

Xander lifted his eye brow, his eyes glittering in green and yellow as he smiled the smile of a hungry predator that had found its prey. "Would you like to play? I would love to see if a Light-Foil could stand against a Lightsaber." he said in a mocking tone.

Jaina looked at them. The general was clearly her dad, but human as a  
Gamorean… "But Xander, in bad light you do look like a Gamorean" she said, giggling.

Xander mock winced. "Ouch, stabbed from behind. How will I survive?" he said, holding his hands over his heart as he was staggering backwards, making Jaina catch him and kiss his nose. "I feel weak, perhaps mouth to mouth is needed." he said.

Jaina looked at him. "I don't know, a Gamorean like you? That is a hard choice, giving first aid to a pig? Should I?" seeing Xander's puppy dog eyes. "Well, perhaps this time, after all you are a cute pig." she said, as she gave him a long and deep kiss while helping him standing up again.

As they were enjoying themselves they were interrupted by an alarm breaking out. Guards were quickly trying to get the guests indoors, but it was too late. Swoops came down from above, followed by air speeders trying to capture the tiny and fast bikes.

Fifteen swoops were swooping in from above, holding homemade fire bombs which they dropped over the guests. A second gang of forty more swoops were seen in the distance.

Jaina and Xander wasted no time as they pulled out their lightsabers and started to capture the fire bombs with their telekinesis and letting them crash down in the garden lake. As the swoops came in for a second turn Jaina was standing guard over the huge doors. Xander was moving to attack.

Like a gigantic bat, Xander jumped up in a tree, his Jedi cloak fluttering around him like a gigantic pair of wings. Up in the air he jumped, using the Force to catapult him towards one of the swoop bikers.

Jaina held her ground as the swoop gang started to fire down blaster bolts at her. Mounted under the swoops, were light blaster cannons, which were sending a rapid fire rate of death against her. Her lightsaber parried bolt after bolt back on the swoops or down into the ground, keeping the crowd safe.

Up in the air, Xander landed on the back of a swoop, knocking the driver out of the seat and in one motion pushing the safety belt release. He let the driver fall down as he sat down on the driving seat. He quickly pulled the swoop out from its dive with one hand as he put the safety belt on with his other.

Pulling to maximum climb, he rushed up in the air, made a loop and returned with breakneck speed, his Lightsaber on maximum length. He looked like a knight in a tournament. He broke their formation as he slashed of the front of a swoop, sending the pilot crashing.

He fired the blaster cannon at full speed against the swoops that quickly dived away. A sharp turn and he entered a chicken race, as he drove in, face to face with a group of Swoop gang members.

Blaster bolt after blaster bolt were shot at him, but his long Lightsaber earned the pain it cost to build it. In the last second, just before he and the other swoop drivers would crash, he pulled up, flying upside down and cutting the other guys swoop in half.

That driver lost control of the swoop because of the simple reason of suddenly being dead. Xander focused on the other swoop drivers. They were still going after the party. A smell of smoke told him that his blaster cannon was destroyed. He was lucky, it could have exploded. He let the control go for a second and grabbed his light-dagger. With one swing he threw it flying into the air.

With Xander controlling its wild flight with the Force, it crashed in to the third swoop, cutting part of its ion engine up. The driver turned tail and fled. Picking his light-dagger up with the Force, Xander caught it and put it and the lightsaber away.

Pulling up his Magnum, he aimed the gun and pulled the trigger as the swoop gang were shooting their blasters at him.

Boom  
Boom  
Boom  
Boom

Each bullet fired was guided by the Force like a target seeking missile. Four pilots suddenly had deep bleeding wounds from a .50 calibre bullet.

Just as suddenly as they had arrived, they turned tail and flew away.

Xander pulled the break on the swoop. Aiming at the balcony he made a soft landing beside Jaina. "It is truly a wonderful day for flying.  
Don't you agree?" he said, giving her a real scoundrel's smile.

Jaina nodded as she put her lightsaber away. "Yes. It is a nice swoop." she said, hugging him.

Xander nodded. "Perhaps I should get myself one of these. They are quite fun to pilot."

Around him the nobles were slowly returning, awed and shocked over the battle skills they had just seen.

One of the guards could not help himself. "Your weapon sir, what was that?"

Xander pull his gun up as he put in a new magazine. "A projectile weapon, a simple chemical explosion sends a missile made of metal flying from the barrel at high speed."

The guard looked surprised by the primitive design. Using that kind of weapon meant the number of bullets would be limited. A standard Blaster pistol had energy for more than 50 bolts. Any type of shield would give almost 100 % of protection against a small metal missile.

A noble man frowned. "Why not use a blaster they are more effective than something like that?"

Xander grinned. "Traditional weapon from my home world and a Desert Eagle has a great voice of doom." he said. Sure, it wasn't actually a Desert Eagle, but it was a gun build with more effective materials that looked just like one.

Putting the gun away, Xander and Jaina walked over to the elders hosting this party.

Bowing respectfully Xander spoke, "Sir, could you explain what is going on here? Because we wish to help you and to do so, we need to know who it was that attacked this party."

The man nodded. "During the bad years, smuggling, drug manufacturing and even slavery became more rampant. Our world fell in the hand of criminals. Now when we are finally getting back on our feet, those criminal feel fear that their source of power will vanish."

Xander nodded. He could feel the other man believed in his explanation. He also felt that it was a simplification of the truth. In the corner of his eye, he could see the Mon-Calamari diplomat wave to him with small circular gestures, trying to catch his attention.

"I see." he said as he bowed to the elder. "I wish you good night sir. There will be much talk in the meeting tomorrow and we would not wish to be late."

At their private room they met up with Captain Junas and Diplomat Acaruc.

Jaina stared at Xander. "We would not wish to be late?" she repeated, looking at him in surprise. "I did not know that you have become a Jedi Master." she said, looking a bit irritated with him.

Xander shrugged. "I saw Acaruc gesture to me and guessed he wanted out of there. It looked like the combat signal Kyle taught us, the time to pull out signal. I do hope I read you symbol correctly?"

The diplomat nodded. "Indeed, I used the -Time to Regroup- signal with the intention of getting Xander away from the elder before he said too much, and I wanted to talk to him. But leaving the party was just as good." he said smiling.

Jaina frowned. "Let me see." she said.

The Mon-Calamari Diplomat nodded as he waved his hand and did a circular motion pointing away.

Jaina said to that, "No, that's the pull out and retreat signal." she said.

Acaruc looked puzzled. "What is the regroup signal then? I took time to learn this during my time in the rebellion. I worked as a medic in the Special Forces at the aqua teams. Two months before I got a position as a full time medical officer." he said with pride.

Of course, that was before he was moved to a regular medical unit because he was too weak to be useful during combat action. And perhaps he did deserve to be proud, as he really had tried his best all the time.

Xander and Jaina nodded and looked impressed at the weak looking Mon-Calamari. "Two months with those guys." Xander said. Troops that Kyle Katarn considered to be impressive were real asskickers.

Junas interrupted them. "Well did you two find out anything?"

Xander shrugged. "They are hiding something. There is a feeling of greed and they firmly believe the Shesharile are idiots. And the youth are incredibly foolish." he said, irritated.

The Mon-Calamari laughed. "Socially learned response, they are expected as young adults to be unable to act responsibly and so many of them act irresponsibly because of that." He looked at them. "You grew up in a different society. You are expected to be responsible already. But once they are 30, they have to act responsible and as an example to the society."

Jaina nodded. "Well, I picked up some info. The gas giant apparently has tibana gas in it."

The room was silent. "A gas mine" Junas said.

Jaina nodded. "They are going to trick it out of the natives. Claiming lesser gasses could be worth mining. So they take the right to mine in extension to the metal trading post."

Acaruc looked almost fearful. That would explain why they were driving the twin planets against each other. Now he had to call one of his local government contacts. They would be able to confirm it by diving into the gas giant. Sure, that would be dangerous, but worth it. Then all they had to do was tell the Mestra that they could set up gas mining by themselves. The Republic could lend them the capital they needed, or they could make a contract with one of the mining guilds outside the cluster.

Or Mestra and Shesharile 5-6 could help each other in exchange for equal chares of the metal trade post and the gas-mining co-operation.

With the Mon-Calamari working overtime, behind him Xander and Jaina started to wave their hands around, signalling it was time to retreat. And then the official signal that meant: "Officer working hard, run, he may order you to be a volunteer".

Junas nodded and gave the unofficial signal for escaping hard work.

The three grinned, but soon stopped as the diplomat gave them the signal for lazy asshole.

**7. 3-3**

Note: And our thanks still goes to Inachis for making this story more readable. Thank you for your work

3-3

The next day came all too soon. With Jaina sleeping next to him in a way too thin teddy, Xander just wanted to snuggle more, but the sun was evil and unforgiving and even glaring at it did not work. He tried.

*

Later

The breakfast was simple fair, but filling. The years under a complete planetary economical catastrophe had taught Shesharile a valuable lesson in economy. Things were still hard on Shesharile 5+6 and the price for food was high. Smuggling and drug manufacturing had actually created more work and finance for the community.

Later in the day

The meeting between the Mestra and Shesharile 5+6 was just as bad as Xander had expected. Law agreements were argued over. The Mestra pulled back suddenly, wanting something more than to drive a wedge between the twin worlds of Shesharile 5 and Shesharile 6, but something was different today and even the Mestra group of nobles could feel it.

The Shesharile representatives were sitting straighter and with more courage in their eyes, when a navy officer appeared. He slowly whispered to the Shesharile group before handing them a computer file.

The government head of Shesharile stood up. "It seems that tibana-gas might exist in our gas giant Shesharile 1. As such, many of us think that it could be worthwhile for us to ask the Republic or a mining guild outside of the Minos cluster for help," he said, looking at the now nervous Mestra representatives.

He sat down. "But we will let you talk with your head of house. Perhaps you could come with a better counter offer, later this week perhaps?"

That ended the conference for the week.

Shesharile was planning on scouting out the gas giant and the rest of their solar system. Where ever tibana gas could be found, carbonite often followed. Not always but in more than 75 % of the cases that held true. Depending on how much there would be to mine the Shesharile could in theory be rich with only a little start up help needed.

Mestra would not like having a second big mining system so close to them. They would soon come back to the negations table. Being partners would be better for both, after all.

Two weeks later.

Dressed in a light armoured jumpsuit, looking like most of the natives, Xander walked the streets of Shesharile 5.

He was on a hunt.

Swoop gangs needed swoops. They bought and stole them. Swoops needed repairs. And if anybody knew about the gangs, it would be the outlaw tech that sold, repaired and even build the swoops.

With his lightsabers hidden inside his boots and a standard blaster pistol by his side, Xander looked like any native, or a smuggler lost on a strange world.

Finally he found what he was looking for, in a way.

A Biker bar, almost a hundred swoops and some speeder-bikes were parked outside the building and music was playing. Hard looking men and women dressed in skin-tight and armoured jumpsuits, just like he was.

Ignoring the people at the door he walked inside. Focusing his Jedi powers, of mind manipulation, he actively tried to make as many of the people as possible feel that he was welcome in here. It would have been an easier trick if they had been weak minded storm-troopers looking for a droid.

Now they looked at him with dislike instead of anger. That was good. Going to the bar he ordered a luum. Then he turned and watched the gang. The mark on their jackets and jumpsuits was a mynock. Looking a bit around, he found the leader.

A female of perhaps 27, she could not be more than that, with long hair on the right side of her head. The left side was bald shaven and full of tattoos. A pair of no-glare sniper sun-glasses was hiding her eyes.

Even from here he knew that she was an alpha, the leader and queen of the pack. Looking closer, he could see that the left side of her head was full of scars looking like burn marks hidden by the tattoos. She was not clean shaven on the left side, she was bald, but she made it look good.

Lifting the mug of luum he nodded to her as he drank. Then turned around and watched what the other gang members were doing.

Frowning to himself he opened his mouth, which normally would be a mistake, but: "May I ask you a question?" he asked politely but firmly from the guy beside him.

The swooper looked at him with the suspicion that he could be a bounty hunter. "Perhaps" he said with an evil voice.

Xander grinned, taking another taste of the luum. "I'm looking for a swoop, a fast swoop, to buy. Swoop racing is a minor hobby of mine."

That would attract attention, considering that swoop racing was bigger than American football and baseball rolled up together on this world. It was almost a religion.

The swooper looked at him. "Really?"

Xander nodded as he spoke with fake venom. "On my home world they consider racing to be an act of foolishness. In real sports you run after tiny balls or throw a stupid dart or something. So an asshole in the government outlawed swoops." He said his face crunched tight in fake anger, while he tried with his mind control power to force the swooper to trust him.

"No. No way, how could they?" asked the swooper, aghast. For fan of swoop racing the idea of outlawing it was evil, it was wrong. Sure, racers often died, but that was part of the game.

"Sith spit!" he growled out with rage. "From what kind of stupid place do you come from?" he asked.

Xander grimaced. "A stupid place called Laramal. It's outside the Minos cluster, a minor trading world. It's just along the Correlian trade route and the Ithorian side path. Lots of ships are docking there to rest and eat real food before moving on." he said. The place did exist, he had done his research, and swoop racing had recently become outlawed there.

Looking at the outraged swooper, he said: "Now here's something funny. Nothing is made on Laramal. Nothing is made, the only thing that happens there is trade and exchange of cargo. Yet most living on Laramal go around with a freaking stick up their ass like it's the best place in the universe."

The Swooper snorted. "I'm surprised that you dislike your home world that much."

Xander shrugged. "Never said it was my home world, Mom said I was born on Tatooine. Dad might have been from Coruscant. He refused to say anything other than it was a core world. Spend my first nine years living on a cargo ship going between Duros and Correlia." The Swooper nodded. "Then they moved to Laramas." he said.

Xander nodded. "Yea, apparently it is good for a child to live on a planet." He waved to the bartender. "Yo another luum and whatever the big guy likes, give him one." Turning to the swooper again. "Anyway, do you know a place where I can buy a swoop? My name is Rednax. And what is your name, big guy?"

The swooper grinned. "I'm called Crunch. Only my enemies know why." he said with an evil smile. "And yes, I know where you could get a swoop. A good one, if you have the credits." he said with a grin, as he took a glass of Ruvian. "Follow me Rednax" he said.

Xander nodded, paid the bartender and joined Crunch as he walked up to the female leader.

*

At the same time, on the planet Adarlon.

Jaina was bored. No Xander and yet another stupid place they wanted her to see. She was being treated like a princess, chauffeured around between parties and theme parks. Local politicians, Holo-stars, Holo-Directors, they all invited her to see their places.

Adarlon was an Alderaan colony from before the clone wars and she was the daughter of the last princess of Alderaan. They treated her like she was the queen of Alderaan. The whole planets main income was holo-movies and theme parks. Sitting on the edge of the Minos cluster, it had plenty of visitors from outside the cluster. Theatres, movie theme-parks, everything and anything could be found here. Art, culture and simple fun was the driving force of the economy of the planet.

She could see that plenty of Alderaans culture was still alive here in the art, but she was a Jedi Knight, a star fighter pilot and Xander's girlfriend. She had escaped evil empire traps when she and her brother were only 5 years old. At fifteen, she had been fighting a Dark Jedi and survived.

She blinked; she had been intending to think "and a decorated Republic hero", not "Xander's girlfriend." Where did that come from? Was he really that important to her? She had to agree that, yes, he was.

The picture of a perfect star, who was the host of tonight's ball, was bowing and excusing himself.

She just nodded, thinking hard. Xander was perhaps deep undercover right now.

"Excuse me. I said, do you want to dance?"

Jaina turned around, frowning. "Actually, I wanted to see the navy reports on pirate activity, it being the reason why I came here. Then I want to find my Xander and snuggle. I am very grateful of how friendly all of you have been. And I'll never forget the wonderful sights I have seen, but I have a duty to perform and a boyfriend waiting for me. So I wish you a good night." she said, rolling her eyes as she moved away. Snapping her fingers, she said sharply: "Driver, take me to the Navy Headquarters. Now."

A short moment later, at a racing track, on the planet Shesharile 5

Xander put on his Correlian pilot glasses, they were fakes.

(Free of charge if you also buy a Correlian build starship, the glasses are worth 2000 credits according to the Correlian Engineering division. You could get an identical version build by the same maker on the streets for 1 credit.)

Now he would need them.

Sitting on a borrowed swoop Xander swallowed, it seemed that Quayce wanted to see his racing skill. Beside him were two members of the gang, charging up their ion engines. Quayce grinned. "If you want to chicken out, now is the best time to give up, Rednax."

Xander snorted "I may have been blamed for many things in my life, but never for being afraid or smart. Bring it on." he said, than blinked. "Wait, that came out the wrong way. I mean Never Being afraid."

Quayce could not stop herself from giggling. Around them there was laughter as the headset he had on him made sure they all heard his joke.

Xander took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Roars of ion engines send a shockwave of sound as the three swoops suddenly speeded of. They would fly three turns around the track and then land again.

Quickly they were at 250 mph and gaining speed. The Race track was long and had many turns and jumps, even a Z shaped turn that was called the destroyer.

Xander pulled the speed activators and the ion engine roared as the speed of his swoop came to 400.

He was not really driving; he let the Force guide him as he moved faster than ever. The bike's speed indicator was at the maximum speed of 600 and the destroyer was coming up fast.

A quick reverse of speed, a powerful turn and he glided along the wall on both sides and flew out of the other side of the destroyer. Then, with a quick max burn on the ion engine, he was back to top speed again. The engine roared.

One of the other two was slowly gaining on him, pulling up nonstop as Xander pushed the engine, slowly climbing as he came in to the first jump. At 600 mph, jumping was like being fired from a cannon. Gaining height, the repulsor lost contact with the ground and thus the ability to manoeuvre.

Only the ion engine was working now and using the fins on the front of the swoop and his own weight, Xander aimed the swoop down and let the it dive down at max burn. By using the fall, he gained speed from 600 to 800 as he raced into the next curve.

Only the Force was keeping him alive as the swoop was driving on the wall of the curve.

This was real racing.

And there was the destroyer again. A quick reverse of the engine and a 90 degree turn later and he was climbing the wall again until he was at the end of the destroyer, pulling max acceleration out of it.

There were the other two drivers. He had left them behind on the first round. Now he drove by them.

Maximum speed straight in to the jump, now this was fun. He actually managed to jump higher this time. Gliding, he aimed the swoop at the turn as he started a power dive.

With a roar he left the turn at 800, flying at only 5 meters above ground level. Climbing, he quickly slowed down to the normal max speed of only 600. The extra speed he gained from the power dive was drained away, now the last turn around the track.

Xander grinned as he entered the destroyer again. THIS was fun.

He hit the finish with full speed, while the other two were on their second turn around the track.

Quayce walked up to him. "Rednax, you are one crazy racer." she grinned "Alright, I'm going to take you to the greatest swoop-tech on the planet." Her eyes were glittering. "And and I know who I'm going to bet on in the race."

Xander grinned. "That was great!" He opened his eyes and removed the glasses. Perhaps, he would get the guts to drive a swoop with his eyes open, eventually.

The gang moved away, beer was out in the open as they celebrated his victory. The two losers seemed to be impressed. Not angry.

*

Later on in the Adarlon system

Jaina was sitting in the navy headquarters reading the reports. It was not good reading. Ships were vanishing, although not that many inside the cluster, most cases were around Mestra. But the Adarlon defence navy reported many stolen ships and known pirates as well as smugglers passing by.

Not good. Considering that Adarlon's biggest ship was an old Nebula-B and a pair of corvettes, it was not surprising that they avoided needless combat with well armed slavers and pirates.

Any ship moving in or out of the Minos Cluster had to pass by Adarlon, Shesharile or Travin, or move really slowly through an area with lots of debris that made hyperspace difficult and dangerous. The pirates were not stupid. They hunted outside the area where they were hiding. Only some small attacks were made in the area. The slavers on the other hand were outsiders.

Travin was the former Empire headquarters of this cluster. After the Empire had abandoned them, it had fallen deep into trouble.

Travin was in trouble. The Moff in charge of the cluster had decided it would make a good headquarter for the Empire. Cities were built and over 40 million people were brought in to manage the cluster's affairs.

Then the Empire crashed down.

Travin was a cold ice planet, the only one in a double-star system. Atmosphere generators and bioforming, done by the empire, had made the planet survivable, but where a windswept, the planet turned cold. Great starport facilities, where once the Empire's Navy had starship bases and mineral mining were their only source of income.

It might be a good place to start seeking pirates, but the slavers? They would have to find out where they were moving and then surprise them.

Turning around she spoke. "R6, could you make a copy of this and try to find a pattern?" she asked her protocol droid.

Like R2-D2, Luke's old astromech, she never memory wiped R6-B6. She had installed an illegal hidden backup memory inside of him, instead.

Sure you could memory wipe him. But give the backup memory two days and everything was restored to normal.

(The backup worked slowly to stop the techs from discovering that the droid they had just memory wiped, suddenly had its memories and loyalty back).

This made R6-B6 a very loyal droid. And as a newer model then the old R2, he was, according to himself at least, a superior model, with improved repair skills in both starfighters and transports and also with an improved piloting skill.

The stock R6 units were superior. But R2 was a droid that had been active for decades. Not even Luke knew how old he was. And nobody, only R2, knew the kind of secret upgrades he had on the inside.

Luke was sure that R2 had a backup memory somewhere. R2 was a droid of mystery in the Skywalker family. As baby Ben was born, R2 decided to show Luke and Mara Jade the marriage holo picture of Anakin and Padme Amidala. That had been a shock.

So Jaina had high hopes for her astromech.

And right now it was complaining. "I know you are not an analyzing or tactical droid. But you are an astromech droid. They have to jump in. Just think that you were driving those ships. What path would you take?"

The droid was silent as it pondered the information Jaina had given him. It was not enough, so he piped a complaint.

Jaina sighed. "Don't worry I'm going to feed you more information." She kneeled by him. "And I got my hands on military skill chips, tactical analyzing skills with a starship identification program. We are going to hardwire those skills to you later tonight."

The droid beeped a happy smile. He loved it when new skills were hardwired into him.

Hardwiring meant that even if they managed to mind wipe him, the basic knowledge of the skill would remain part of him. Other skills that he learned by experience would vanish if he was memory wiped. Not that it would happen with the backup memory installed in him.

They had tested that it worked twice to make sure. He had been so afraid that it would fail and that mistress Jaina would be sad.

He hoped they would return to Xander. Jaina was missing him. That made him upset. He wanted his mistress happy.

Jaina ignored the droid again as she studied the navigational reports. "Those are Hutt ships. Damn." Turning away she walked over to the commanding officers. "Thank you for the help. I ask that you keep sending me information, especially the identity and movement of the pirate and slave ships." she said.

The man nodded. "We will do that, Jedi Knight Organa." he said.

*

A week later on Shesharile

The Force was with him, Xander thought to himself. The Mynock were a swoop gang that were seen by the locals as heroes. With the lack of real police and military on most of the planet, Quayce and her gang worked as protection for hire. They had an area outside the city in a small town that they protected for free. It was their turf.

But for credits and sometimes food, the Mynock helped other parts of Shesharile 5 to drive away the more criminal element, from swooper gangs to drug dealers.

That wasn't to say that the Mynocks were that good. The gang loved fighting, racing and sometimes hunted other criminal gangs just to prove who the big boys were.

But they had their arch enemies, plenty of them in fact, other gangs that were stronger and had more members than them.

The Mynocks strengths were that they had an old fortress as their base and they had local support and help. To top that, the Mynocks were also better trained then the other gangs.

Quayce's gang did not believe in killing a weak leader and taking his place. The only thing Xander could compare them to was knights and feudal lords. With Quayce as the Queen and Crunch as the lord, baron or duke, the rest were her soldiers, the knights serving in her army. The locals were the serfs and the free men prospering under her protection.

Sure, sometimes one or two of her knights did stupid things like stealing. But they kept the street clean.

He and the head of Shesharile had an interesting talk about that gang. It had potential. With the proper support, they had great potential.

Climbing of the repulsor bus, Xander walked up to an old parking building, only four floors tall. The building was mostly abandoned, but somebody had made his home and affair on the two top floors.

Quayce had said that this was where the planets best Swoop tech was.

Surrounding the building were the members of the Mynocks. He waved his hand as he walked up.

The shop sign made him stop. It had to be a sign from the Powers, or a dimensional joke. On it was written in Basic: Chop Harlison swoop garage.  
He was going to buy a Harley-Davidson swoop, or a Chop-Harlison swoop. But it just sounded like a Harley to him.

Moving up, he saw a man standing beside Quayce. He was big and had a short cut beard, sunglasses and was a bit overweight, but not that much. A smell of grease, oil and cigars came from him. He did not smell bad it was simply a personal aroma. He also had permanent grease stains burned into his hands.

Xander nodded to him. "I'm Rednax, Sir." he said politely.

The man looked at him. "I'm Chop Harlison. I heard you wanted one of my babies?"

Xander blinked. "Um, I was planning on buying a swoop or two." he stuttered.

Chop nodded. "Like I said one of my babies."

"Oh." Xander said. "So what do you have?"

Chop grinned. "Quayce said you had some skill. She asked me to show you this." he said pulling a blanked away from a custom build wonder. A pair of tiny but powerful ion engines gave it more power than a normal swoop. The repulsors were customized, for improved lifting and manoeuvrability. It had everything, including a nice blaster cannon.

"What's her name and how fast is she?"

Chop grinned. "She's a Starslinger. I'm the only one that builds them. I'm their creator. Only a handful has been sold so far." He stroked the lines of the engines. "She can move at a max speed of 950. The altitude ranges from ground level up to 150 meters." Chop continued. "The twin engines give it the ability to make a 180 on a credit."

Xander swallowed, that was incredible. He could feel that Chop was telling the truth. "May I take it for a ride?"

Chop looked at Quayce before agreeing. A short moment later he started the engine, it roared in joy under him as he raced out.

40 minutes later he landed again beside Chop. "I'm in love and I'm buying one Starslinger and a normal racer swoop. How much would that cost me?"

Chop frowned. "They are expensive, 20.000 credits a piece. I can give you one of my normal racers for 9000."

Xander swallowed. "I was hoping 12 000 each." A normal swoop costs around 8000 to 10 000 credits. (Note from Beta: I sold them for 20.000 on SWG )

"No, these babies are expensive. Military repulsor coils. Super cooled tibana gas circling and the repulsor coil makes the repulsor field 50 % stronger then the factory claims the coils can create. The twin ion engines are a re-designed version of the same type of engine capital proton torpedoes use." Chop grinned. "You are riding the rocket on this."

Xander swallowed. Well, he did have the extra money Captain Junas gave him for expenses. No, that would be abuse of power. He had his own pay. The reward money the government had given him after he and Jaina had saved the party, but most of that money he was saving to improve the Enterprise.

He frowned. "Would you accepted 18 000 credits for the Starslinger and 9000 for the racer swoop?" he said in a hopeful voice.

Chop nodded. "Hmm. Well I accepted. At least I get one sold." Most drivers were unable to handle the speed the Starslingers moved at.

Xander smiled, delighted. "What is the speed of your racer?"

Chop smiled back. "Max up to 750 kmh." he said, then frowned "Do you want a blaster cannon installed or not?"

"Could you make it so that the cannon is removable?" asked Xander.

Chop nodded. "Sure."

Quayce grinned at the guys talking happyly. She loved swoops and seeing others caring about her hobby made her smile.

*

Later in the Mynock base

The dinner had been nice, a bit bland in taste, but not bad. It was time to get to business.

Xander spoke up. "I saw how you have been protecting the town and areas around you."

Quayce nodded. "Yes, it the right thing to do. Beside, bad guys have more loot than farmers or factory workers." she stated simply.

Xander nodded. "Indeed." He drawled, as he pulled out his Republic ID card and with one sweeping motion his lightsabers flew out of his boots in double-bladed form and landed on the table.

Quayce paled as she looked at the ID card. A Jedi, a freaking Jedi was sitting next to her, an armed freaking Jedi.

Xander took a cup of water, letting his saber lie there. Most of the gang was watching. "Now, I am not here to arrest you or make problems. I need your help."

Quayce started. "You need OUR help? What would a mighty Jedi need the help of scum like us?" she said mockingly.

Xander shook his head. "I want you to keep doing what you are doing." He grinned at their surprise. "But with a twist." He pulled up a computer pad. "This holds a Republic pardon and a planetary pardon for any prior crimes as long as it's not in the top 6, such as slavery and mass murder. Sign this and you are no longer a criminal."

He pulled up a second data pad. "This is a recruitment form. Shesharile 5 and 6 needs a swoop defence force. And they want YOU Quayce to create it. Any one you recommend, they will hire." he looked at her. "This is your chance to make a difference. Shesharile is going to come into money soon. Affairs are coming back and you could be part of that. Protect the town you love and care for and this time the government will help you."

He held up his hand. "Remember, they want you to create the organization. Meaning that you get free hands, within confides of the law, on how the organization is created." He stood up. "No traps. I am a Jedi, I do not lie often."

Quayce said: "What about your name Rednax, your love of racing and your home world?"

Xander shrugged. "I love racing. My home world is called Earth. If you look for it on a nav computer, you won't find it. It's a lost world. My name is Xander. Read it backwards and it's Rednax. It was a joke one of my childhood friends and I came up with. He was Essej or Jessie. And I was Rednax." Looking around as he explained.

"This world is starting to work again. Affairs are starting to work again. The people in charge do not like criminals because they are in the way of profits and most cause suffering and problems for the civilians." He looked at Quayce. "After all I told them about you and your gang." he could see they were watching him.

"They offered you this deal, because they like how you and your gang have been protecting the civilians. Becoming part of the law system makes it official. Help them create a swoop defence force. A free hand, within the limit of the law, and regular pay and retirement checks." More than one of the gang members was nodding. Xander pushed his selling argument.

"The pardon is free of charge. Sign it and your old crimes are forgotten. The enlistment contract is also free and not a condition of the pardon." he said. More of the bikers were listening carefully.

Quayce said: "What about our support persons, our techs and mechanics?"

Xander nodded. "They are building a swoop defence force. They need mechanics and techs for it to work."

Quayce sighed. "Let us think about it." she said. This was big. Accepting this would be the greatest mistake or the smartest deal she ever did.

As they studied the employment contract and the pardon, Xander backed away into the corner of the room, watching. By the time the first gang member had signed his pardon, Xander felt a presence enter the planet. A presence he had not felt in a long time. Jaina was back.

As Quayce signed the employment contract to become part of the swoop defence force, the combined roar of overpowered repulsor engines and a twin ion engine was heard as Xander Starslinger started its journey back.

Only a note on the door told the gang member where the young Jedi was.

-Girlfriend's back in town. See you on the racing tracks. Rednax. PS:  
If you ever need anything, call me. Jedi Knight Xander Harris.-

*

Later at the spaceport

Three days in hyperspace, three days in a tiny cockpit, like most Jedi, Jaina had used a hibernation trance to enter a deep coma like sleep. A Jedi must focus on special stimuli or time before waking up from it, or if they were suffering pain.

Then, from the misty sky, the roar of an engine was heard as the X-wing landed softly beside Xander's Ghtroc. The waiting Xander climbed up and looked inside the cockpit at the sleeping Jaina dressed in a white jumpsuit.

He grinned. "Open it R6." he said, leaning forward kissing her. "Wake up sleeping beauty. Wake up my, princess, o beautiful snow white." he said. Kissing her again as he lifted her up in his arms.

Slowly her eyes opened and she smiled. "Hi. I bet you say that to all the girls." she said, grinning. Extending her hibernation trance until R6 gave her the wake up order by sending a screeching sound, or until Xander woke her up with a kiss was brilliant.

The guards at the airports smiled at the romantic show. Beside the X-wing a swoop slowly lifted from the ground, its repulsor engines activated as Xander sat himself in the driving seat and Jaina sat behind him, holding a hard grip around his shoulders.

"Hiho silver, away!" Xander cried and activated the ion engines of the Starslinger swoop. With a flash of fire they were outside the starport and on their way to their hotel.

End of Chapter 3

**8. 4-0**

Note: Tx again to Inachis for making this story more readable. You are awesome.

.

Knight away. 4-0

Travin was an awful place to live in, but it was an even more terrible place to visit if you were a Jedi of the New Republic.

That was a lesson Xander and Jaina had quickly learned the hard way.

The Crew at the starport looked at them with ill hidden hate. The civilians at the restaurant spit openly in their food. There was lots of anger that was quite justified, from a certain point of view.

The old Moff had made Travin, an empty ice planet, the HQ of the Imperial fleet and the civilian HQ for the entire Minos Cluster. A small number of towns were build almost overnight. Atmosphere generators were built and random plants and animals that could survive were dropped off on the planet's surface, mostly because the Moff liked big game hunting and was planning for big future hunts.

In less than a decade you had a cold wind-swept planet with rugged terrain. Almost barren of life, but the life that did exist was impressive. Big shark like monsters and whale like plankton eaters scored the sea to find the plankton and other life inside an almost barren ocean. The situation on land was slightly better. More life forms had gotten a grip on the planet, but it was still a barren ass end of planet.

Most of the humans were brought here to manage galactic affairs in the clusters. They were clerks, entertainers, technicians, accountants and navy personnel. Then the rebels destroyed the Empire and Travin was suddenly without any support. The navy moved out and the clerks, entertainers, technicians, accountants and ground navy personnel found themselves fighting to survive on a planet where growing badly needed food on a large scale was impossible.

They had to start mining the natural resources of the planet in order to survive. They also opened up the great navy repair yard for smugglers and traders, Jaina suspected even for pirates and slave-ships.

The rebels and the Jedi had done no good for the civilians living on Travin.

Even Captain Junas was nervous as he walked with them. This amount of open hatred was not something he was used to, not that Xander or Jaina was used to it either.

The government had given them a tiny file, with information about the ships moving in this area of space. It was as fake as a flying singing Kung-fu kicking elephant.

*

Later in space

Junas sighed. "So what are we doing now?" Official methods would not work. So now what?

Xander paused. "I think we jump away and visit another planet just for kicks. Then use the smuggler tricks Han Solo told us about to sneak back down on the planet," he said. "If we can get down there, we could sneak inside and steal the information we need. Then leave."

Jaina nodded. "That sounds good. Junas?" she said looking at him.

Captain Junas nodded. "Sounds like a plan. It' been years since I did anything like that." he said, grinning while remembering the old days during the rebellion.

Not that these kids would remember those days, Jaina was born five years after Endor and was 17 now, Junas sighed, during Endor he had been a brave 21 year old scout.

The two Jedi looked at each other as they studied the nav-computer.

Yelsain, Quockra and Adarlon were 15 hours away. Shesharile was 10 hours away, but they had just come from that world and it would feel wrong to return so soon.

Jaina spoke. "The Yelsain said they were friends of the rebel alliance. If we go there, we should stay a bit longer. In a way we do represent the Republic like any good will ambassadors. "

Xander nodded. "Quockra it is then, we do have an invitation to visit there." he grinned.

Jaina nodded. "Let say 20 hours on Quockra, then we sneak back," she said as she and Xander entered the cockpit to set jump co-ordinates to Quockra-4.

*

A short moment later they returned.

Xander walked by and grabbed a data-pad about Quockra, sat down on the sofa and started to read up on the planet. Soon Jaina was curled up together with him on the sofa and reading the same thing.

Junas sighed to himself. He wondered what his kids and ex-wives 1-3 were doing and where his current wife was. They were a perfect match. Neither of them was at home at the same time, so naturally they loved each other.

Unlike his ex-wives, they divorced him because number 1, he was a criminal rebel, number 2, he was never home and always working, and number 3, change your work and start earning real money, get a future and think about me for once.

He pitied his kids. His oldest child was Jaina's age right now and hated him. The youngest was only six years old and cute as a button, and sadly called the nanny droid mom.

Xander nodded. "Quockra-4 it is. Junas, are you alright?"

Junas nodded. "Just remembered my own family," he sighed.

"Do you have a picture?" Jaina asked.

Junas nodded as the two young Jedi moved over.

Xander offered, "If they live nearby, perhaps we could fly you there. Let you stay home a week or two."

"Or perhaps let them visit you." Jaina said.

Junas Turner smiled. "Well, this is my oldest boy. Awel Linel, his mother, my ex-wife no 1, was loyal to the Empire, so he hates me for destroying their life. I forgot to tell her I was a rebel when I married her," he said, pushing the pocket holo projector to show a new picture. "This is my ex-wife no 2," he said, showing a picture of a lightly blue skinned human. Jaina recognized her as a Wooronian near-human.

"We met in the Empire jail. It was a stormy marriage, but she is the mother of my second oldest boys, my twins," he said showing up a pair of happy boys with dark blue almost black skin. "Alern and Elern Turner. NO idea which is which."

He sighed. "Right now they are 14 years old. We're great friends." He switched the button and thanked the Force that he and ex-wife no. 3 did not have children.

"This is my current wife and my daughter Enilia Turner." he said. The cute six year old dark-skinned child made both of the young Jedi go "Ooo so cute."

And she truly was a cute child.

15 hours passed fast as Captain Junas Turner entertained them with stories of his life. As a rebel and New Republic Scout, sneaking around on alien worlds and scouting out enemy postings was an every day event.

He lived a life of adventure. Sure, actual the infiltration and destruction was something others did. His work was finding the place and getting out alive with the information, but mostly he told them about his wives.

His current wife was a machine engineer. She spends most of her time re-engineering or rebuilding factories and big machines, all across the galaxy. He talked and they asked questions until the older Captain saw the two teens had fallen asleep on the sofa.

Finding a blanket Junas sneaked into the cockpit to handle the landing.

It was silent in the ship as it entered the Quockra system.

*

Later on the planet

The starport was different. Only visiting humans, aliens and the Quockra droids were seen. They were strange droids, looking almost snake or snail like, but with arms.

A gold pink droid which the Quockran considered an ambassador escorted them to a meeting room.

The Quockran were not a hostile race. They are indifferent beings living underground. They disliked contact with most alien races, especially humans. The smell and the appearance of the human body made them sick.

So they build droids that did the talking, but they had invited Jaina and Xander for a talk. Apparently the idea of Jedi was fascinating to them.

*

Hours later

Xander and Jaina walked back to the ship. It had been an interesting meeting. The Quockran had allowed them to meet eye to eye just so they could show of what they could do. By the end of the meeting the poor Quockran had looked sick and revolted to be in the same room as a human.

It was a strange being. It looked more like a snake with tentacles then a snail, but it had some strange snail like traits also, curious and strange.

Both of them could feel that it was more than just a mental disgust that the creature felt, it was physical disgusted by them. Perhaps a bio-chemical reaction to the different smell most aliens had. They were allergic to non Quockrans.

This was not only Xander and Jaina's theory. The Quockran allergies were a documented fact proven by a bith researcher. Biths were one of the small numbers of aliens the Quockran where not allergic to.

The reason why they were here? There was a small number of Quockrans who wanted Jedi training. They wanted to find a way for them to train. It would be a problem Luke would have to solve. They only knew about four alien beings that did not cause the Quackrans problems.

Junas watched the kids as the Enterprise lifted off. "You two are quiet."

Xander nodded. "I don't know if I should pity them or be insulted," he said.

Jaina shrugged. "Pity is what I'm going with," she said as the Enterprise entered orbit.

Xander nodded, "I know, it's just that I have looked at a Hutt and have been disgusted. Hidden my disgust yes, but still felt revolted over how ugly they are. This is the first time something looked at me with that much disgust in their eyes."

*

Later on Travin

Going down slowly, sneaking by the satellites and fighter patrols, the Enterprise landed on an ice filled landscape.

The three quickly powered down the ship and moved out. Grabbing the camouflage netting, they hid the ship under it, then shoved snow over it, to make it look just like one more field of ice.

Dressed up like normal teens, they had a night black jumpsuit with a ninja hood to pull over the head hidden underneath.

Junas looked at them before he wished them good luck and a may the Force be with you.

Xander and Jaina nodded as they jump kicked the swoops.

*

Hours later

The city was boring, nothing, but straight walls in a grey material.

It was one of many towns the Empire had built, all identical copies of each other built from pre-manufactured parts, transported by big containerships and put together like a giant 3D puzzle or a Lego into a boring town. Nothing unique, but a town could be finished within only five months.

All the buildings on Travin were the same. Pre-manufactured and put up on this world. The only difference was the size and that only one town had a spaceport and there was the spaceport. Imperial Class, meaning it could handle millions of visitors, re-build a ship from scratch and handle even the largest ships.

The two nodded as they changed into Ninja-Jedi, as Xander kept calling them.

Xander and Jaina, thanks to Kyle, already had the blue prints of the space port. Silently, using the –Mind Control- to make sure nobody noticed, them they opened a hatch to the underground maintenance tunnel system and jumped down.

It was dark, only strange orange light from the wall lamps lighted their path as they walked under the starport. Every now and then they hid themselves as a garbage disposal droid flew by hunting pests and rats. Under the wall of the spaceport guard droids where patrolling.

Nodding to Jaina Xander grabbed his lightsaber and light-dagger. Jaina did the same with her lightsaber. She had tried fighting using a pair like Xander, but it just felt wrong for her. Luke knew how to fight with a pair of lightsabers and he was good when he did it, but he too felt wrong and unbalanced when using a pair.

Just like Xander said he felt wrong when using only one.

Like one they attacked.

-Force Push- first made the guard rocket off into the wall, confusing them, and before they had a chance to signal an alarm, Xander and Jaina attacked, cutting them in half. Lifting the pair of guard droids together, Xander put a grenade inside both droids.

"Five hours." Jaina said.

Xander nodded and set the grenade for five hours. No reason for them to let the natives known that the robots had been cut in half. Something a light-saber or a light-foil was good at doing.

Sneaking further inside, they came to an entrance hatch. Jaina connected her data-pad into the security computer. With Xander at her side the two disconnected the security computer and opened the hatch. They were now in the cellar of the star port.

Looking around they could see cameras and security sensors. The jumpsuits were another gift from Kyle. They were made out of a sensor baffling material, which made it difficult for sensors to find and identify them. The sensors would know that something was in the area, but it was difficult for it to see the difference between a human and a rat.

Using a trick Mara hade showed only Luke, Jacen, Jaina and later Xander; they focused their powers as they bent light itself, almost cloaking themselves in darkness until they looked like a pair of shadows.

Moving like shadows, the camera or a human eye could still see them, but only with difficulty. The trick only worked in dark or poorly lighted areas with many shadows, not in direct light. It was a hard trick to do and easy to lose control of. A trick Mara had learned from the Emperor himself.

The two moved out and soon the two of them were sneaking along a maintenance crawlway above the corridors. Under them they saw guards and security droids moving around.

Every now and then they had to cross areas with guards or security cameras, as the crawlway did not go all the way. Sometimes they used the mind control trick on patrolling guards to sneak by them –We are not here, nothing strange is going on. - It even worked on the tired guards watching the camera feeds, but the cameras were recording. They preferred Mara's trick even if it was harder to do.

Finally they were near the starport central computer. Jaina sneaked inside a room with only droids moving in it and Xander stood by the door ready to fight. Her data-pad downloaded information as quickly as it could. The security was old, based on Imperial codes created before Endor.

Finally she had the information they needed about starships moving in the space surrounding and landing on the planet. She nodded to Xander as the two sneaked outside. Frowning, Xander waved a signal to her. –Lets investigate- he indicated.

She could see him sniffing in the air. That was somewhat cool. Her boyfriend could actually sniff out things almost like a dog. They moved fast. There sitting in a docking hanger was a Hutt ship, a slaver-ship that was being repaired. Beside it they could see its escort ship, a Hutt-gunship, a Hutt built version of the Correlian gunship.

"They even let them land." Jaina said disgusted.

Xander nodded. "I might need backup on my way out. So wait here and if fighting starts create a distraction." he said.

Jaina looked like she was going to protest, and then nodded. Seeing that Xander changed his gun, from the primitive slug thrower to a real weapon, a Bryar Pistol, a modified sawed down Bryar rifle.

One of many gifts Kyle Katarn had given them.

Jaina smiled. "Good luck" she said as Xander vanished in to the ship.

Inside it was dirty; the smell of abandon was thick as he sneaked to the bridge. The ship was empty. Quickly pushing in a computer disk, he copied the ships flight information and cargo manifest. Also live recordings from the security camera installed in the cargo bay.

Strange, the manifest said it was a live cargo of nerfs. Yet it looked like humans chained to the wall of the cargo bay.

Growling, Xander sneaked out. Freeing the slaves now would not work. Travin guards would only help the slavers recapture them.

Walking to the door, he heard voices. Quickly turning into a shadow, he sneaked inside a corner. The door opened and the captain, a Devaronian with red skin, devil horns and pointy teeth, walked in. He looked more like a demon or a devil then most demons in Sunnydale did.

But Xander knew Devaronians from the Jedi academy. Most of them were good guys, but all he could feel from this Devaronian was greed, lust, anger and the urge to hurt others just for fun. Standing beside him, as a guard, was a creature Xander had not seen before, with a purplish-pink head with keratin-like plates on the neck and skin looking like something from an octopus. Strange tentacle like things grew from its jaw, almost hiding the mouth.

The Kian's, named Ri'shirril, face tentacle twitched as it detected one more living being, a human from the feel of its nerves. The sensitive tentacles could easily detect the aura of every sentient being in proximity. Like a Gothal, they could actually sense the emotions of others and whether there were more beings nearby.

Ri'shiriril drew his gun. "Captain, we have an intruder hiding nearby," he said.

Xander swore. "Sith spit and fucking vampire piss" as he fired his Bryar gun. The Devaronian fell first; half of his head was burned up. As the KianThar rushed forward, Xander fired a rapid burst of fire in its head.

Now the alarm was screaming.

Shrugging, Xander fired a burst of fire in the security computer. Using the Force he grabbed the heavy blaster pistol the Devaronian had on him. With the Bryar gun in his right hand and the heavy Blaster pistol in his left, Xander walked out.

Gamorean guards, followed by Nikto the Hutt's enforcers, rushed to the bridge. A rapid rain of fire came his way as he dived for protection and fired as fast as he could. Putting the power pack of the gun in overload he send it flying towards the guards and as they jumped in fear of the small explosion the power pack created, he rushed them.

Bryar gun blazing and light-dagger swinging as he dived in to the pile of guards. Four seconds later he was the last being standing. Quickly putting the light-dagger away he sent a burst of plasma into the cut wounds of the guards to hide the nature of their death. He rushed back further into the ship, seeking an exit hatch.

Outside Jaina sighed, she never could take Xander anywhere without him creating problems, time to see if she could do the same.

Running like a shadow she sent bursts of fire towards the fuel tank, causing it to explode. Moving away from the slaver's ship she created more explosions near other ships. The space-ports guards started to follow her instead of helping the Hutt ship.

Perfect.

Xander kicked open the guard room inside the ship. "It's Daddy!" he called. Inside the guards and crew of the ship had armed themselves and prepared to hunt down the intruder and there he was.

"I am sorry." Xander said as he dropped the gun. There were too many slaves for him to let the Hutt have them and excessively many guards for his blaster. The guards grinned as the intruder gave up. Then the room turned dark as the intruder turned off the light and they paled.

Snap hiss.

Snap hiss.

The room was bathed in the green and yellow light of a lightsaber and light-dagger.

It was not a fight it was a slaughter. Guards and crewmembers had died like sheep. Xander felt sick inside, but it was his only way to save the slaves. Entering the cargo hold, he spoke up. "Does anyone of you know how to pilot this ship?" An older man nodded. "I do. Why?"

Xander answered. "Because I'm trying to save you." Looking around the joy filled faces and cries of happiness, he snapped at them. "Silence, you are not safe yet." He removed the key. "You and as many as possible have to man the ship." He looked around. "When you hear the report that an X-wing and a transport are attacking the navy, fly away."

"Use these jump coordinates," he said, moving out.

Sneaking out, the shadow of Xander and Jaina stopped near the main power line. Putting on a small explosive, they vanished. Without power the long range sensors and weapons would be offline.

*

Later

Parking the racer and Starslinger swoops in the Enterprise, Xander walked up to the bridge. "Junas, you have the guns," he said. Captain Junas blinked, seeing Jaina and her R6 readying the X-wing. "What are you doing?" he asked in shock.

Xander answered, "Attacking a fleet, so that the slaves we found on a ship can escape."

Junas sighed. "This is not good. It's going to create a diplomatic catastrophe," he roared.

Xander nodded. "I'm counting on it. The coordinates I gave the slaves are to Adarlon. When their heroic princess and her rouge of a knight come storming in, side by side with slaves saved from evil Hutt's and former Empire forces on Travin, what do you think they are going to do?" he asked.

Junas was silent. "Sith spit, if I die I'm so not ever talking to you again for revenge."

Xander nodded. "I think I can live with that if I die." he said ironically.

He hugged Jaina before she climbed in the X-wing. "Be careful and may the Force be with you."

Slowly the X-wing backed out from the tiny hangar. Side by side the two ships started to speed up.

His sensors told him, that they used old TIE's with class 10 engines, but the information said that they also had TIE-Interceptors, which had the same speed capabilities as Jaina's ship.

"I'll take the top turret gun." Junas said.

Xander nodded, as he flipped the control of the lower turret to the cockpit control and locked the gun on front only. To aim he just had to turn the ship a bit. A target mark activated on his front screen. He activated his jammers to hide his identity. Once they were at Adarlon they would know anyway, but it was better to confuse them for now.

He flipped the quad cannon onto rapid fire. The four cannons would shoot one by one as fast as they could, filling space with bursts of laser. "We have incoming Eye-balls at 12 o'clock. Two squadrons." he said, informing them that TIE fighters were closing in.

He could see that Junas had chosen link 2 and 2 on his quad turret. It was a great compromise between power and speed. Having all 4 cannons shoot at the same time was great against big ships, but to hit smaller starfighters you wanted a higher rate of fire.

He could not out fly the TIE's with his upgraded Ghtroc, but with skill he could outmaneuver them. His ship was just as good at maneuvers as the TIE was and his ship had an armored hull and military grade shields.

Like a rocket, the two starships flew out into space right at the old dagger corvette, a small Capital ship 200 meters long, which looked like a micro Star-Destroyer. Its big guns, designed to fight off bigger enemies, moved too slow for his fast and dexterous ship.

Outside, Jaina was holding her own against the rain of TIE's attacking her. Almost lazily she sent three proton torpedoes down on the dagger corvette. A big explosion and he could see that the turbo laser turrets had vanished and the shields were down on the left side.

Junas was shooting –Thing, Thing- the four cannons fired two and two in a deadly twin rain of fire.

Xander turned around, attacking the TIE squadron from behind –thing, thing, thing, thing- the four cannons off his quad cannon fired a rapid rain of fire as he dodged the return fire. The shields were glowing, as he did a boot sharp turn, shielding Jaina's fighter with his transport.

Junas had switched his cannon –THING- the four cannons, in quad fire mode, fired simultaneous at the dagger corvette. Its hull, half a meter of armor, boiled away as the powerful quad liquefied the armor.

The corvette rolled around, showing them the shielded side only.

They moved away, luring the defense forces away from the planet.

"Ready." he said in the radio. Jaina replied. "Ready and willing." she said, flipping the front shield to max. With a roar of the engines the Ghtroc turned around and with Jaina flying in front, they attacked the squadron of TIE fighters.

Xander's trusted R3 informed him about a change in the enemies. "Squints coming in, one squadron." A second squadron of TIE-Interceptors had now joined them. "Behind them is one more squadron of eyeballs," he said, informing Jaina that more TIE-fighters were coming.

Unlike the TIEs, the TIE-Interceptor had four cannons and the same speed Jaina had.

"Ready? I'm doing the flip. Going under in four." Jaina said.

Xander nodded and as she gave the signal, he pulled up. Jaina pulled on the break and the X-wing vanished behind the Enterprise. The twin quad of Junas and his gun opened up a can of whoop ass on the interceptors and suddenly a rain of proton torpedoes flew out from behind the Ghtroc.

The Interceptor sensors had been unable to see what Jaina was doing as she hid behind the other ship and now it was too late. Three TIE-Interceptors illuminated space, as Jaina came up again with engines roaring as she challenged the remaining interceptors to a dogfight.

Junas laughed. "What is it with these guys? They fly like beginners," he said into the intercom.

"Mud-dwellers, not real tie pilots. But they die like real ones." Xander said, swinging the ship around to let Jaina rest and recharge her shields behind his ship. "R3, send over targeting information from my sensors to R6." Xander said to his droid.

Hiding behind the Enterprise Jaina started to drain the cannons to re-charge her shields, when suddenly targeting information came rushing in from R6. She grinned. "Call up the closes squint and paint it as target 1, then give me a lock on it. Then switch to the next squint." she said, as she started to fire missiles from behind the Enterprise.

Rolling around and never letting them focus on one side, Xander turned to the droid. "Where is the Slave-ship?" The information rolled up on his screen. "Perfect. X-wing, be ready for exit, I don't think they like us." he said, and then frowned. "Incoming." he said as the TIE fighters roared in at full attack speed. From behind him missile after missile attacked the interceptors.

But with TIE-Fighters around it would be a bit hard to jump. The Enterprise twitched and rocked. Alarms screamed, he was near to losing all shields in the rear right part, minor hull damage, nothing to bad.

Junas lighted-up another two TIE fighters as Xander managed to cut off one TIE-Interceptors wing. Like an angry angel, Jaina's X-wing came up again, in four seconds four TIE Fighters were burning in space.

In fear an Interceptor turned too fast and managed to clip a TIE on the wing. The two ships were spinning out of control as the Ghtroc raced away.

Still, out of 36 TIE-Fighters (Eye-balls) only 18 were still flying and out of 12 TIE-Interceptors (Squints) only 6 were now flying, but the enemy had not given up yet.

"They're regrouping." Junas said.

Xander yelled. "Damn. X-wing, I'll distract them, you take them down."

To the surprise of the TIE pilots the running ship suddenly did a 180 turn and was now attacking them again. With cannons blasting they dived in to the pack of TIE-Fighters and Interceptors. Dodging like crazy, they had almost no time to notice the rain of missiles Jaina X-wing sent their way.

Junas sighed to himself as he illuminated an interceptor. "These guys are NOT pilots," he complained.

Xander roared back. "Don't complain. Clumsy enemies are good enemies," he said. "X-Wing, the slave-ship has entered hyperspace. Prepare to follow."

Now they just needed to get the TIE's of their backs.

"Perhaps, but I have pride in what I shoot down." Junas answered.

The voice of Jaina interceded. "Boys, argue later, shoot now," she said. Thinking over she illuminated 4 Interceptors and almost 10 TIE fighters by herself. That was instant Ace.

Both she and Xander could claim the title as an Ace. Perhaps the Darklighters claim that both of them were Rogue squadron material was true after all. Her pride got a kick in the rear as an explosion rocked her ship. "R6, what happened?" she yelled. "I'm losing power!"

R6 quickly started to repair the damage. Jaina read the report her robot friend gave her. One missile launcher was gone and life-support was offline, but R6 said he would get it active in half an hour.

She shuddered, it was already cold in the cockpit and frost was forming on the window. Pulling the pilot suite close, she activated the seals on the pilot jumpsuit, sealing it and the helmet. Now she would survive in the cold of space for up to 12 minutes. Inside the cockpit even with no heat, she could manage for hours without problems, but the frost sure made visual flying difficult. Opening herself to the Force and using the sensors, she kept fighting.

Xander voice was heard over the comlink. "X-wing, what is your status? I repeat, what is your status?" she could hear the panic hidden in his voice.

Jaina answered. "No problems. Ready to fight again." she said. The sensors said there were only 14 TIE-Fighters and 3 Interceptors left. On the far side of the planet re-enforcement were closing in, but they would not get here in time. "Transport, reverse shield maneuver two," she said.

Xander nodded as the X-wing flew in front of them like a spear. The X-wings 4 cannons and his two quads fired at maximum. "Ready. Go. Break up." As the TIE fighters dodged to the side, Xander and Jaina broke up on different sides, rains of lasers and missiles came rapidly up from her ship, as Xander dived in shooting another TIE-Interceptor. "They are retreating. I repeat, retreating."

Jaina replied. "Confirmed, show me an exit vector," she said, joining Xander as the two flew out to jump distance from the planet.

In the gun turrent, Junas disconnected the radio intercom as he turned off his cannon. "That was one heck of a fight," he said. The kids had the right instincts. It was good that the two of them had fallen in love with each other. Hell, Xander was flying like a young Han Solo and Jaina Solo was like Luke Skywalker reborn.

Junas suddenly paled at that thought. Bad brain, bad brain.

He felt the vibration as they entered hyperspace.

Xander came walking over. "Hi. We are making a 12 minute micro jump, to pick up Jaina. Uum, why are you so pale?" he asked worriedly, but Junas could not answer as he saw Xander in front of him dressed in pants. Correlian styled pants (Xander had asked Han for a good place to buy something to dress in) and a rancor skin west with a big Bryar gun hanging at his side. Junas flashed to images of a young Solo wearing a similar type of outfit.

Xander was puzzled. "What?" he frowned, as he wondered what that was all about.

Junas swallowed. Alright, Xander's face and body looked nothing like how Han had looked. Good, stupid brain.

As they exited hyperspace, Jaina's battle scared X-wing landed softly as the hangar doors closed. In her orange flight jumpsuit she climbed out only to have Xander catch her and kiss her deeply. They were both safe.

Behind them Junas paled once again as he saw somebody in an orange jumpsuit like the ones the rebels had worn during the attack on the first Death Star. With the helmet on her head and the vacuum seal activated, Jaina's female forms looked disgustingly male at the moment.

Poor Junas could only see the terrible image of a young Han Solo kissing a young Luke Skywalker.

In the hanger Jaina unsealed the jumpsuit. The sealing might protect her against vacuum, but it made her look like a man. "What's up with Junas?" she asked, then frowned.

Xander helped her removing the suit. "I don't know," he said. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Did you perhaps ask Dad for a place to buy things?" Jaina asked Xander

Xander nodded. "Why?" It was comfortable to be in the ship.

"You better change your fashion. You're dressed like my dad." Jaina said.

Of course Xander looked nothing like Han Solo did, but dressed in old fashioned pants and vest he looked like an idiot.

Xander shrugged. "Alright," he grinned. "Why don't you go through my wardrobe and say what's right and what's wrong." he said.

"You know I have NO idea of the fashion in this universe." he frowned. "OR the fashion of my own universe either for that matter."

Jaina nodded as the two walked inside.

Junas was working hard trying to get a hangover.

*

**9. 4-1**

Note: hmmm I'm not sure but did we say thank you to Inachis? To be sure THANK YOU

4-1

28 hours later

The slave-ship and the Enterprise had entered the Adarlon system.

For the first time ever, Xander and Jaina actually asked reporters to meet them and the slave-ship at the starport. To make sure they made an impression, Jaina flew her X-wing as an escort.

Government and New Republic representatives were also asked to meet them.

The reporters were waiting as the last princess of Alderaan and her consort landed. The ugly form of a slave-ship landed beside them. The reporters' cameras focused on the battled scarred hull of the Ghtroc and the X-wing. The near death hit on the X-wing cockpit got plenty of coverage.

The moment Jaina landed, the reporters surrounded them.

*

Hours later in the hotel

Xander turned the holo projector off. The slaves would get a drive back to their homes and the Travin system would have to pay for their journey back. The New Republic was sending a powerful protest over the action the Travin system and the Hutt's were doing. They were demanding economical compensation for the innocent civilians who had suffered at the hands of the slavers.

A powerful protest, oh joy, was that all? There were whispers that corruption was running rampart in the New Republic. He already believed that, but now he knew it was true.

They had become heroes on Adarlon. Junas loved it, as he managed to get his wife and children over to visit.  
Meditating, Xander saw the path of the future stretch out in front of him, constantly moving and changing direction because of the actions of others.

Difficult the future is to see.

Somehow he felt the fall of the New Republic was closer and yet further away than before. Echoes of his speech, "Do not ask what the Republic can do for you, ask what you can do for the Republic," were singing in the flow of time.

His simple statement that the Republic is not a one man show, it is a team effort, loomed equally large.

Xander swallowed, those two ideas might have created a chance for survival, or brought the death of the Republic closer in time. From what he felt, they brought the destruction closer but also improved the chance of surviving it.  
Slowly he drifted back to the here and now. They had enemies in the Senate who do not wish the Jedi to return. The path of honesty would hurt their greed.

He felt the death of a Jedi, the Duros guy. They had graduated together and now he was dead. Because of a betrayal, just like before with Order 66.

He opened his eyes just as Jaina came in. Seeing his pale face, she walked over. "What is it?"

"Remember the Duros that graduated with us?" he asked silently. Jaina nodded. "I got a flash that he is dead. Somebody betrayed him. It's someone in the Republic." Xander said silently.

Jaina paled, swallowed to calm herself and then started to meditate.

Xander's own vision of the future was either extremely bad or sometimes scary precise, yet not showing any details. That was frustrating.

Jaina nodded. "Let's find Jacen and Lowbacka. One of us should know what to do," she said. He was right, a Jedi was dead and the Force was trying to warn them. Betrayal, again.

Xander nodded. "He died in a flash, suddenly dead in space." The way the Duros died, he just could not help himself "The X-wing. It was his X-wing that suddenly destroyed itself."

Jaina paled. "That was what I saw. He just exploded. No, the X-wing exploded." she said. What a macabre idea, somebody hiding a bomb in your ship.

Xander frowned. "No. Not hiding, activating. The bomb was already there."

Jaina paled. "No, no way." It is not possible.

Xander nodded. "Think about it. Every Jedi needs a fighter or a transport which he or she gets free of charge as a loaner. They have already replaced your damaged one with a new one, free of charge again." He hugged her. "What would it take to have a bomb installed in your ship?"

Jaina slumped down. "Not much. Every Jedi that uses an X-wing gets it from the same factory, the XJ model. It has an improved cargo capacity because it's used as a transport by us Jedi first and a fighter second."

Jaina got up. "Let's go and talk to my brother." Then she frowned. "And please, Xander, check your ship for bombs also." They would have to find evidence and then talk to Luke. No not Luke or Mara Jade they need Talon Karrde first. HE would be able to send out the warning flags.

The two young Jedi walked out of the hotel room and back to the ship.

*

A short talk to Junas later

Xander said, "I said to him that we are going to talk to friends and be back later. He said have a fun trip." Having Junas's family over was a stroke of genius. Now their watcher was distracted and they could escape. None of them believed that Junas was a traitor, but he was an observer and most likely considered expendable.

*

Two days later

The Enterprise landed on a planet no Jedi wants to land on, Myrkh, the home of the smuggler alliance and also of Talon Karrde, the retired Talon Karrde. Even as a retired smuggler he was just as active. No longer arranging smuggling runs, instead he was into finding and selling information to the right buyer.

The old man smiled as he saw Jaina walking towards him. Mara Jade had worked as his right hand for a while, until Skywalker had come along.

"Welcome." He said. "Let's get inside, I have food and drinks waiting." he said in a friendly voice.

Later in his private dinner room: "So what can I help you with?"

Jaina sighed. "I'm sorry to bring trouble to your door. But I'm afraid official sources are closed for us, right now" she said.  
Talon blinked. "Please explain."

Jaina nodded. "We have a suspicion that somebody has installed a bomb in every Jedi ship in the galaxy." There, she said it. Now he would admonish her for being foolish or paranoid.

Talon Karrde nodded. "That could explain much," he said. Seeing the Jaina's depressed face, he smiled, "what? you do not believe your own theory?" he said.

Jaina huffed. "I was hoping you would say it was foolish paranoia."

Talon laughed at the face she made. "So what do you want from old me?" Leaning forward, "And what can you trade with?"

Xander answered. "Information about smugglers and slavers in the Minos cluster and also information that soon a new source of tibana gas will hit the market, traders and smugglers that are early might get a good deal."

Talon nodded. "I was actually hoping for an I own you that I or one of my people could cash in later." He sighed.

Xander smirked. "We wanted you to go through our ships and find the bombs. We believe my Ghtroc might have one also." He leaned over. "And if you find one, could you do two things? First send out a warning to Luke, Leia, Mara, Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn, without anyone in the republic noticing it. And second let us borrow a starship while your techs go through our ships." He leaned back.

"Including what we already said, do the last two favors and we will owe your group two big favors." He said. "And to make the deal ever sweeter, once we find out where the pirate gang has their hideout, I'm going to let you and your gang help themselves to any objects of value." He grinned, "While we bring in the criminals."

Talon Karrde smiled. "I could tell you where the pirate base in the Minos cluster is." He nodded. "It's a deal. I will have my men search Jaina's X-wing first. After all, if they go after Jedi they will, sooner or later, try to hurt Ben Skywalker." He grinned. "I consider that baby to be my grandson," he said with pride.

Jaina frowned. "You would have done this for free?" she said. Talon Karrde nodded. "But a deal is a deal," Seeing their irritation, he grinned. "What about if I include and install a concussion missiles tube?"

Xander laughed. "Sounds good, but make it a pair of missile tubes and install an auto blaster under the cockpit, same type as the B-Wing's use."

The B-wings auto-blaster was fast. It did not do much damage, but it could be used to improve the aim of the target computers. Kind of like a laser sight.

Looking at Jaina, he said. "She also needs some ammo to re-fill her torpedo stock and you would not happen to have one of those old tractor beams for fighters handy, would you?"

Talon nodded. "I have the jammer and tractor beam. You really believe I'm going to give you kids all that?"

Xander nodded. "If you believe Ben is your grandchild. You will. I'm seeking a target right now and whoever is hurting my friends is the target."

He had sacrificed his own future on Earth just to save his friends. In no way would he let a fool, blinded by greed destroy his new friends.

Jaina nodded. "If we are right, it is somebody high up in the Republic who is behind it." She studied him. "What made the old Republic work?" she asked.

Talon Karrde answered. "The Jedi order, millions of Jedi worked to keep the Republic alive. In the…" He fell silent. "There are not enough Jedi now for the Republic to work," he said.

Jaina nodded. "The Rebel Alliance created a house of cards and it's falling down, only we Jedi could stop it. If we fail, it will be crushed bit by bit. So help or get out of the way," she said, looking sad.

Talon was pale as he considers the consequences. This was bad, but the missing part of what he suspected was happening  
fell in to place. A second galactic civil war was about to break out and this one would make the old Rebel VS Empire look like a warm up. "You get the help," he said.

The next morning, his team of experts started to pick the X-wing apart. Every bit was removed. Soon the X-wing parts started to fill out the floor of a huge hangar. Even Jaina's R6 and Xander's R3 had to be examined, although they came out clean.

*

Two days later

Talon called them in to the hangar. "I am sad to say that you were right. The X-wing contained a tiny bomb. If activated, it would have destroyed your hyper drive during entry, making the ship destroy itself," he sighed. "Here, let me show you the ship you are going to use while my men investigate your Ghtroc."

The ship they were going to use was a banged up Lone scout-A. A tiny scout vessel, only 24 meters long, but it was fast and had a good hyper drive.

Xander nodded. "Thanks."

Talon grinned. "Do not mention it. I ask not what the Republic can do for me. I ask what I can do for the Republic" he grinned at the shocked face of the young Jedi. "Oh, do not be so surprised, it was catchy."

*

Later in hyperspace

The tiny Lone Scout-A was a fast ship with long legs. Even if it had limited space on the inside, its hyper drive was fast and effective.

Jaina studied a star map and nodded to a part of it. That is where her twin brother Jacen was. She was wondering what kind of ass end of space he had ended up in. Wherever it was, most likely it was not good.

They landed outside the town and walked into it. It was not a normal town by far. It was a place of drugs smugglers. Xander pointed out the Republic hangers they looked more like an armored bunker then a normal hanger.

Jaina nodded. "Looks like he is in trouble," she frowned, now she remembered. This was no normal world this was a world of exiles. She picked up her data-pad to read what she had about the planet.

The locals of two nearby systems had taken the lovely habit of sending their criminals out to another world and letting them survive, if they could. After a while they started to ask their neighbors, if they wanted in on the deal. By the time of Endor, fifteen worlds used this place as a place to dump life time criminals.

The first generations mostly died directly of starvation, and because of the hostile plants or animals, but eventually some criminals managed to bring with them plants, animals and things that humans could eat and a society of sorts started to grow.

Only four years ago did the locals ask for help, smugglers had discovered their prison world and helped the criminals to escape. Now the Republic had to send over a team of guards because of the pure concentration of criminals on this crime world. The situation was even worse than they thought, as the Republic research team reached the place. For the first hundred years, the criminals exiled to the world had implants that made them sterile. Not that it was really needed back then, as not much on the world was possible to use as human food.

As more and more worlds joined, smuggled plants and animals had made it possible for humans to survive, unless somebody killed them, but many of those worlds did not use implants to stop the exiled criminals from having children. Only a small number of innocents were born each year, but they were growing in numbers. The criminals, the worst of the worst from fifteen different worlds, made a short work of most of the children.

Eventually a pair of children survived, became adults and had their own children. They created a gang of warriors to protect themselves against the never ending rain of criminals which fifteen worlds were dumping on their home.

Then the smugglers came. Drugs and spice were brought in. Criminals who could pay got away. Changing the security satellites to military laser satellites and space mines did help to keep the smugglers away. Then came the fall of the Empire and the trouble with returning criminals had grown bigger by now. After an incident, they asked the Republic for help, struggling with a world where 50 % of all living people were murderers, smugglers, rapist, slavers, political criminals, swindlers, sociopaths and psychopaths.

The rest were the children of said people.

Xander read the note on the Data-pad. "That's one fucked up world," he said.

She nodded. "Seems like Lowbacka and Jacen were send here as guardians and advisors." Jaina said.

Xander sighed. "Look, a pub. Let's go in and have something to eat."

With hoods pulled low to hide their faces, they walked inside.

**10. 4-2**

Note: And again all our thanx goes to Inachis

4-2

Anger was boiling in the locals. Apparently the Republic was screening the criminals, stopping the worst from leaving and trying to isolate the most aggressive criminals from the civilians.

The local exiles did not like that all, no sir.

Paying for food, with local credits Xander stole from a passerby, the two sat down silently and ate their food.  
The locals were looking at them suspiciously.

They ignored it, until a big strong man growled as he walked up with a knife in his hand. "I said, how much your whore is," he yelled at Xander.

Lightning fast Xander stood up, grabbed the hand holding the knife and twisted. A CRACK was heard in the pub, as the hand was broken. He might not have the strength of a wookiee, but Xander knew he was at least twice as strong, maybe more, as a normal human. "I'm her bodyguard," he growled out. "Now say you're sorry to the lady and she might let you live."

The criminal swallowed as Jaina looked at him. Instead of seeing a face inside the cloak all he saw were shadows.  
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he begged as he rushed away.

Xander bowed to Jaina. "My lady." She nodded and Xander sat down again.  
"Why?" she whispered.

Xander whispered back. "Misdirection and confusion, at least now we are not Republic spies in their minds." hearing that she nodded.

They would target her bodyguard now or her as she showed up a bit more then what Xander had expected. Moving out they walked careful around the Republic starport.

"Look." Xander said. Over the way they saw Lowbacka. His fur was pale and he looked thin. "He doesn't look good." Xander said.

Jaina frowned. "I see that." She wondered what was going on. Stretching out she found Jacen. She called to him, asking him to come and meet her in secret.

*

Later

A tired Jacen arrived; he looked like he had lost weight, his hair and eyes where pale.

Jaina gasped. "Jacen, what happened to you?" she asked.

He looked confused. "Nothing, just work, never ending work." he sighed. "What are you doing here by the way?"

Xander grabbed his med kit. "Give me your hand," he said. Jacen blinked "I'm just stressed." he said.

Jaina frowned. "Jacen, let him do it," she said in a commanding voice.

Jacen nodded as Xander took a blood sample. "Nothing, it only shows an unusually high stress level, nothing else."

He frowned and then picked up a straw of hair, putting it in for a poison test. "Nothing," he shrugged, setting his hands over Jacen heart, trying to sense whatever was wrong with him.

Jacen flinced back, "Nothing is wrong with me," he protested.

"Feel this Jaina," Xander said.

Jaina nodded as she let her hand touch her twin. It was a foul feeling of wrong, eating him up from the inside. "O no. Its." she swallowed. "There is something poisoning you and Lowbacka too."

Jacen shook his head. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." he said.

Xander frowned. "Why do you say you are fine?" he asked, using a weak mind control attack. Jacen being strong minded should have ignored his tiny push, but instead he fell into a trance.

"The voice during my sleep says there is nothing to worry about." Jacen said in a dreamy voice.  
Xander's frown deepend, "Whatever it is, it's affecting his willpower and his mind also."

Jaina was very worried now. "We have to get Lowbacka and get the hell out of here," she said.

Xander nodded. "Let's use your brother to get him," he said.

Jaina wanted to protest, but agreed.

*

An hour later

The results were the same with Lowbacka. Using mind-control on their friends, they quickly got the two cooperating.

*  
Later

"What are we going to do?" Xander said. "My first instinct is to take them by blade and put them where the sun doesn't shine."

Jaina shook her head. "We cannot let anger rule us. Our first mission should be to heal our friends. Cilghal is a Mon Calamari healer, she would be our best bet."

"Alright, she is on the Calamari home world with Tekli." Xander said grinning at the memory of the enthusiastic over energized female Chadra-Fan.

"You really like Tekli" Jaina said, grinning. Xander nodded, smiling back. "She's fun. Like a younger sister or a pet dog," he said.

Chadra-Fan's are short aliens with furry bodies and a head that looked like a bat. Only a meter long, the young Tekli had managed to win the heart of all other Jedi. Tekli was a young teenager when Xander first saw her less than a year ago. She was 10 years old then, which in human years would equal a 15 year old. Being hyperactive and almost never sleeping, Tekli spend her time running around getting to know the other Jedi. In the end, she considered every Jedi in the academy to be her best friend. She had graduated two months before they had.

Jaina sighed. "I miss the tiny fur ball" she smiled. "And yes, she is like a pet sometimes." she said, as Tekli actually liked to play fetch. It was apparently a fun game among Chadra-Fan that let them burn some of that extra hyperactive energy away.

They nodded. "Best find a stick she can hunt," they said together.

With Lowbacka and Jacen sleeping behind them, the Lone scout-A lifted up.

*

22 hours later

When Jacen woke up, his head was pounding and he felt sick. Crawling up from the bed did nothing good as he fell down, hurting himself.

Seeing Xander confused him even more. "Rest, we're getting you some help." Xander said.

Jacen frowned. "For what?" he said, feeling sick and yet not. He just needed to rest, just rest.

Two hours later they entered the Mon Calamari home world, a huge water planet with ship yards floating around in orbit and down on the never ending oceans.

Jaina spoke into the microphone. "I repeat. Rogue, Solo, Solo, spacewalker." She said sending a code that would let them into a private hangar.

Slowly they entered a private hanger and landed. As they walked out, guards moved to stand in formation guarding them. The last out was Ackbar himself. "Jaina? How confusing. My report said you should be in the Minos cluster".

Jaina nodded. "That's what I wanted them to believe. I need Cilghal's help and I need your silence," she said.

Ackbar frowned then nodded.

Jaina thanked him and continued. "Can we talk after Cilghal has come here? We have two poisoned Jedi in there," she said.

Ackbar's mouth opened. "Your brother?" he asked. Jaina nodded. "We will keep this private then." he finished, waving the guards away.

*

One hour later

Cilghal with her apprentice Tekli came out from the ship. "They were poisoned, but it would not kill them. It was eating up their minds. Whoever drugged them was planning to use them. The poison slowly eroded their willpower and made them extremely easy to mind wash."

Xander growled. "If my suspicion is correct, they were going to mind wash them to create a political scandal."

Ackbar started. "Who would do something like that?"

"The same person who had bombs put in every ship belonging to a Jedi, that's who," Jaina said.

There was silence. "You are joking. I hope" Ackbar said.

Tekli looked scared. "Our ship also?" she interrupted.

Xander shrugged. "Perhaps, Jaina's X-wing had a bomb and my Ghtroc might have one, it is still being investigated."  
He sighed. "Our information makes it clear. It is somebody high on the political scale. He or she believes Jedi are in his or her way to power. Only somebody with connections to starship building could have done it." he said looking the fishlike admiral in the eye.

Ackbar frowned. "Do you suspect me?" he asked. Xander shook his head. "No. Not you, but I do suspect that you know who could have done it. Or perhaps even now have figured out who it could be."

Ackbar head seem to shiver, before he nodded. "That depends on if my niece Cilghal ship has a bomb in it or not. If it has, I know exactly who it is and if so the Republic itself will be destroyed if we make a single mistake." He did not look happy. "I'm going to let my private team look through her ship. They will not say anything."

Cilghal nodded.

Behind her Tekli shivered, eyes full of tears. "Why would they do things like this?" the tiny healer said.  
Xander and Jaina quickly hugged her.

Cighal rolled her huge fish like eyes. Tekli was such a drama queen and she loved and would do anything for a hug or a head rub. "I am not sure. At least not completely, but I believe that they were planning on using Jacen and Lowbacka to assassinate Luke and Mara." Seeing their worried look, she calmed them down. "Do not worry, you saved them in time. They had yet to start programming them."

As the Jedi rejoiced in their reunion and knowing their friends where safe, a tired old Ackbar walked out of the room. He might not be a Jedi, but he could feel it in his bones. War was closing in on them again.

War, how he hated war and the fact that he, a born pacifist dreamer, was so skilled in the art of war.

*

Later at a floating city on Mon Calamari

Jacen was sitting on a harbor where ships and submarines were parked and was looking much better. His skin was not as pale anymore. He was still skinny and Cighal had told them that his own Jedi skills had been fighting the drugs and doing that hurt his body as they kept increasing the dose of the drug.

Lowbacka also looked better. Riding on his shoulder and talking constantly was Tekli, behaving more like a child then the Jedi healer she was. The young wookiee was protective of the tiny Chadra-fan, she reminded him of his sister when she was younger.

Jaina was sitting next to her brother, leaning her head on his shoulder. The idea that he could have been killed was terrifying to her. The two were connected in a way only Force sensitive twins could be. She knew he was shocked and afraid. She also knew he felt betrayed and missed his X-wing, which was still parked on the other planet. Going back there and getting it would be hard, but it was also a loaner with a bomb inside it.

Under them, swimming side by side with Cighal, was Xander, looking at the floating city the way only somebody could from under the sea. It was magnificent. Even under the sea they where building parts that would become starships, or perhaps they where storing them. Xander was not sure. In other places he could see children playing inside an underwater play yard.

Then there were the fish farms, huge cages floating in the sea filled with growing fishes. Cighal said that most of the farms this close to the city had fish species that were considered especially delicious, to stop thieves from stealing them.

*

Later at the Mon Calamari star port.

Ackbar was not a happy fish; Cighal's ship had a bomb installed in it. "I am not happy," he told to them.

Xander nodded. "I can see that. Now who is it that's behind the kill all Jedi thingy?" he asked. "Tell me or I bring forth the fishing rods." he joked.

Ackbar made a deep gurgling sound that passed for a laugh among Mon Calamari. "I do not have any evidence or anything besides the bomb that I have secured as evidence, but I know the source of this are the Bothans and the current president of the Republic Borsk Fey'lya may or may not be involved. He might be innocent or he simply being kept silent."

Jaina nodded. "Why are they doing this?"

Ackbar sighed. "In the Bothan culture the pursuit of power and influence is the most important thing that is. Among Bothans Borsk, being president of the Republic and perhaps the most powerful man in the galaxy is considered a star, the sexiest male Bothan that exists." He took a deep breath. "In their own culture backstabbing, counter deals, character assassinations and lies are normal behaviors. They are natural born politicians. Jedi who can sense a lie among others things, are impossible to bribe. They are too dangerous to the Bothans for them to let them live. The Bothans have always feared the Jedi. That was the reason the Emperor trusted Bothans, but they did not like him or the Empire that limited their climb to power." he said, remembering a discussion he had with Grand Moff Tarkin once many years ago during the time he was the Moff's personal slave.

Cighal waved her hand, getting the others attention. "Remember, this is just my uncle's theory. He has no evidence to prove that it was the Bothans that did this. Besides Ackbar does not really like the Bothans," she reminded them.

The young Jedi nodded.

They said their farewells and climbed into the scout ship. It was time to get the Enterprise back.

*

**11. 4-3**

Note: As in every chapter before we have to thank Inachis for her help. So thank you again .

4-3

Later at Myrkk

Talon Karrde walked out to greet his young guests. What he did for them cost him personally a bloody fortune, but he would not complain. He was finally having fun again; being retired had been killing him with boredom. Perhaps it was time to become more active again. He pushed the idea away for the moment. "Welcome" he said as his two pet Vornskr growled angrily, their instincts identifying four Jedi.

Vornskr were animals native of this world that used the Force to hunt. They did not like other beings that were Force sensitive. Around 80 cm tall they, were the size of a tiger.

Talon could see the kids were a bit nervous, at least three of them. The fourth one, Xander, was different. His eyes started to glow green and yellow as he looked one of the Vornskr in the eye.

The battle of dominion started slowly, until the beast backed down in front of an alpha predator. As it receded, Xander looked the others in the eye.

Looking up Xander smiled. "So did you find a bomb on the Enterprise?"

Talon nodded. "I did. Impressive that you managed to scare my pets Sturm and Drang," he said.

Xander eyes twinkled. "I just explained to him that I was too big and hungry for him to eat." He waved his hand. "Yes, I know it's supposed to be impossible to use the Force here. But if the Vornskr are doing it to others, I can do it to them. I am a bit limited, but the moment it makes contact…"

Jaina started. "The moment its hunting sense made contact, you opened yourself up and dominated it," she said in surprise.

Xander nodded. "I do have predator instincts." he said, knowing the others knew about the Hyena and Soldier.  
Moving beside Talon were a much calmer pair of Vornskr, purring as they pushed their big heads in Xander's hands to be petted. Grinning, Xander did. They did look nice, a mix between a dog and a cat with some bear like qualities mixed in and they would make great guards.

Jaina smiled as she tried to pet the cute monster, but quickly pulled back the hand as she almost lost her fingers.

The Vornskr growled angrily the moment she tried to pet it or come close to Xander.

"Hey, he's my boyfriend," she complained.

Xander shrugged. "Talon, could you put your pets away?"

In the hangar they saw his Enterprise. The ship had never looked better in his eyes. Under the chin of the cockpit a twin auto-blaster, same type as the B-wing fighter used, was mounted. Hidden on each side of the ship was one Concussion missile launcher, giving him a pair of missile launchers.

The twin Auto-blaster was a tiny double cannon that could destroy a TIE and perhaps hurt a TIE-Interceptor. What was great about it was that it could be used to improve the ships targeting computer, making it a great tool to hit tiny targets that moved too much for the computer alone.

"Its beautiful." he said turning to Talon "Thanks. I know I asked too much, but…"

Talon waved his excuse away. "I was going crazy here with nothing to do. Even half-retired like I am now, it was killing me."  
He looked at the ship. "Arranging for a secret courier to Luke, Mara, Leia, Han, Kyle and Corran was just what the doctor ordered."

He gave them a smug smile. "Your sensors were bad. I put in some military sensors. What good are weapons, if you are unable to find your enemies?" He had also stolen the mini-hangar design.

Jaina looked at the old man. He was strange. In some ways he reminded her of an older version of her own father Han Solo, a Han that decided to become the smuggler kingpin.

Talon looked at them seriously. "I want the four of you to stay out of the core worlds until I have sent out the messenger." he said.

Xander nodded. "Give us the co-ordinates for the pirate base near the Minos Cluster and we'll do some spring cleaning there." Then he grinned. "If you just happen to have a smuggler or two nearby, there was nothing we could do to stop them from looting the pirate base."

Lowbacka growled, unhappy at the idea of being part of illegal plunder.

Jacen frowned, then nodded. The smuggler did help them more than he needed to and like most Correlians, Talon Karrde had a distinct dislike for slavery. His smugglers did carry illegal spice, but the more dangerous drugs, like death-sticks, he left for the Hutt smugglers to handle.

A spice cargo could give you 1-5 years punishment on Kessel, depending on what type of spice it was and what planet you were on. Death-sticks would give you life sentence or death as a punishment no matter where you were.  
The Talon smugglers were loyal to their boss and they knew that if they ended up on Kessel, Talon would help them out, legally shorten their time or arrange for nicer postings outside of the spice mines.

*

Later on their way to the Minos Cluster

Jacen was watching as his sister snuggled near Xander and he wished Tenel-ka was nearby. Xander was good for his sister, he could feel that.

Meditating he could see difficulties in the future. That was not good.

*

At the same time on Coruscant

Borsk Fey'lya read the report. Another Jedi had died. That was bad. If you could get an honest answer out of him and were  
to ask him what he thought about the Jedi, he would have said that he hated them. But he would also have said that he needed them. The republic would fall apart in corruption and interior fighting without the calming present of the Jedi.  
Jedi were being murdered and the most awful part was that he had a suspicion that it was his own people, the Bothans, which were doing it. Somebody was assassinating Jedi and he was the most powerful man in the galaxy, surrounded by people he could not trust. If he warned the wrong person, whoever was part of the plot would hide OR speed up the assassinations.

If he did not warn anyone, they might succeed.

Jacen Organa Solo and Lowbacka were missing. Their work as watchmen on Achalem was strange, but understandable. The Republic was actively trying to separate the most dangerous criminals from the native innocents and the less dangerous criminals. The idea of carpet bombing Achalem and forgetting it existed sounded like a good thing to do, if he could do it without looking like a monster. But no, they had to send in the troops, trying to save the innocent children of criminals.

And now Jacen Solo was missing.

He had to warn somebody.

He calmed himself. He once was a master spy and it was time to use those skills again. "Could you call in Esser Nei'lar," he said to his aide.

Moments later Esser came inside. She was a gorgeous Bothan of 25 years old and one of his many lovers and as well as a secretary. At least officially and he would not complain, if she let him become her lover.

No, Esser was actually courier, the best of the best. She was trained in hiding, escaping, and driving anything that flied, rolled or walked. She even had a cybernetic implant that could change the color of her fur.

It was luck that he managed to hire her. "We need to talk," he said, activating a zero sound field. No sound could escape the bubble the zero-sound generator created, as the two talked.

*

Later

Esser walked out, frowning as she focused on her mission. Her loyalty was absolute. She would... Tiny sparks of pain sent shivers of confusion through her as her real personality awakened from its sleep.

The greatest spy is always the one that does not know it is a spy, an old Bothan saying went. Unknown to Borsk, she was a living example of that. On the surface the loyal Esser, a skilled courier absolutely loyal to Borsk, so it looked to him and even to the Jedi and a Gothal that had tested her.

After all that part of her mind was loyal. Not even the Emperor himself had discovered the Bothan spies hiding as loyal friends and advisors. Trained with drugs combined with mind washing technology, she had given herself a second personality, one that she could reprogram as needed. A personality that had no idea that it was a fake, a funny mirror created in her own image. Normally it was that part she let control her body as she watched or was sleeping.

Now her real masters would pay her well for the information she had. Grinning, Ellan Nei'sar walked away. Perhaps they would finally give her the order to end Borsk's life.

*

At the same time on the Enterprise

They docked at the old Caroonas Space station, which was build almost 2000 years ago and had started its life as an asteroid base. But now nothing of the stone was visible, only deep inside station could you touch the original rock.  
The station was almost 5 km long from one end to the other and 2 km tall. It served as a refueling station, restaurant, hotel and resting place for tired spacers out in deep space. It looked like a metallic brick hanging in space and hundreds of small docking hangers dotted its surface.

Docked inside one of the hangars was the Enterprise. Inside the ship Xander frowned as he looked at Jacen. "Do you have to wear a red shirt?" he complained.

He himself always wore black, white, green or whatever Jaina gave him, but never red, it was forbidden, to her amusement.  
Jacen blinked. "What?" he said. Lowbacka was just as confused.

Jaina was giggling. "Xander, stop being ridiculous, he looks good in that shirt."

Xander shook his head. "I told you. This is a starship named Enterprise. On the make-believe movies and shows Star Trek, anyone wearing red shirts from the starship Enterprise ends up DEAD. I'm trying to keep your brother safe." He looked at the other two. "Right? I'm not being stupid."

Jacen frowned. "Because of a make-believe show? You are being stupid." he said, walking out in to the space station.

Lowbacka growled out something that sounded quite amusing.

They exited the ship and looked around. Aliens and humans of every type surrounded them. Xander could see nineteen other light transports in this hanger alone.

Moving out into the exit corridors, they found themselves in an alley where on one side were turbo lifts and on the other stores that sold heavy gears and ship spare parts.

Commercial areas, said a sign on one of the turbolifts.

Xander, Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka, R6 and fifteen others strangers moved inside the huge lift. Just as fast as the door closed it opened again and they were there.

Further inside and on a different level.

Lowbacka and Xander growled as a pickpocket tried to steal from Jaina. She just rolled her eyes and pushed the thief into the side of the wall.

The room they were in was big. Tucked into the floor was an asteroid that looked tiny compared to the room, but the cave that had been dug inside the asteroid had room for no less than five boutiques: a clothes store, a candy store, a book-holo movie store and a space suits R'US, gizmo and things. Around the asteroid shopping mall were more stores and restaurants. Also bathhouse with massage and sunbathing could be enjoyed. It even had a weapons store.

Lowbacka sniffed his fur. He really hated to bath, but cleaning his fur in a real bath where he could comb and shampoo his fur and then have it dried by professional, now that was a completely different matter. "Rrror" he said, pointing at the bath. "Groor rhar" he said, handing over most of his valuables to Jacen so that nobody would steal it while he was bathing.  
Thank the Force, the stink of a dirty Wookiee would finally be taken care of, was what Xander, Jaina and Jacen were thinking. R6 just sighed, feeling sorry that the new life forms developing in Lowbacka fur would be destroyed.

Then they split up.

Jaina rushed to the book-holo movie store.

Xander found an interest in the Gizmo and things store.

Jacen sighed as he looked at the clothes store. He really needed something more.

*

Later

Lowbacka's adventure

Lowbacka was nearly purring as he enjoyed the shampoo massage. The Twi'lek female, a big fat and strong woman, was massaging in shampoo and grinned at the Wookiee. "You liked that, don't you?" she said.  
The kid had been so dirty. She put more shampoo on her hands. "Now, this is going to make you fur shiny and soft." she explained.

Lowbacka just hunked answers, drifting between sleep and being awake, he and his fur would be clean again.

*

Jaina's adventure

"Oh, that's a good book," she said, putting a nice adventure book in her cart.

*

Xander's adventure

"What the hell." Xander said in English. He was looking at a real, honest to God Swiss army knife. Of course it was possible that other objects had followed along with the stolen gold and kidnapped humans from Earth.

The store owner paled. "You, you are from Earth." he said. Xander nodded. "Yea. Why?" he asked. It felt good to talk in English for a change.

"Me too, I'm from New York. Former police officer, Carlos Nieto, NYPD." The man said with pride and enjoyed seeing one more of the exiled.

Xander smiled. "Your store?" he asked. The man nodded. "Yeah. Mine and some others, most of us were put on slave ships and were never seen again. But I and some others were lucky. They put us in a big cargo ship full of plunder and things. We managed to overpower the crew. In the end perhaps seven out of nine made it out alive, but we were free and had a ship."

He shrugged. "Somehow we ended up here. My girl Sophie Kerr and I stayed here. The rest?" He shrugged again. "The ship was full of riches, we split the loot and well I did a good deal on what the others considered junk."

Xander nodded. "I'd love to talk about Earth with you guys. I'm here with my girl Jaina and her twin Jacen and Lowbacka." Seeing the guys confusion he explained. "I'm the only one from Earth."

Carlos Nieto nodded. "So how did you get here?" he asked.

Xander frowned. The truth would sound crazy unless he added a twist. "I jumped. The Powers That Be on earth didn't like it, so I was send to stop the gate machine. It was all they could do." he said.

Carlos frowned. "Why you and powers that be? Who are they and how old are you?" he asked.

Xander shrugged. "I'm a trained special forces operative. They even included some experimental gen-manipulation. To make sure I would survive."

He looked at the older man. "The powers that be are what you might call presidents, directors, Kings, Queens, who rule good old Earth." He smiled. "I'm only 18, but I started fighting when I was 16. Like I said, I was in a special unit."  
Carlos nodded. "Alright Captain America," he grinned. "So, what have you been doing since then?"

Xander grinned. "Believe it or not, I managed to become a Jedi knight." Carlos snorted. "Really? I don't believe in Jedi."  
Xander shrugged. A wave of his hand and objects started to fly around Carlos. The former police man looked shocked before he said. "Alright, I believe now." Then he turned back to Xander and asked: "Is there any way for us to return home?"

Xander shrugged. "According to the smart ones, every time the gate opened, there was a big chance the sun would become instable and would go in an instant super nova. So they had to close it, fast."

Carlos nodded. "Why don't you and your friends come by later to chat a bit? Take the pocket knife, I have more," he said. He and his wife had started to manufacture new pocket knives.

The two started to talk about earth movies and TV shows.

Hours later Xander walked out of the store when the strangest group walked up to him. They were two female near humans with red to purple skin and beside them holding their arms were two male near humans, one with soft purple and the other with blood red skin. Aside from the skin, they looked beautiful and human.

"Excuse me, but you are the captain of the Enterprise, correct?" one of the men said. "I am Aridel. I found out about you from the landing computer, you are listed there as the captain."

Xander nodded. "That's right. What can I help you with?" The four looked at each other.

Then they turned back. "We would like you to let our daughter come with you on your adventure. She is a computer expert and we are willing to pay for her journey." Aridel said.

Xander frowned. He felt no greed or evil from them, they were simply worried. "Why?" he asked.

"Let us explain. It's a long story."

*

Jacen Adventure

Frowning, Jacen looked around the clothes store. Most of it was space-wear or Duros and Ithorian styles. Then suddenly a pair of red purple arms hugged him from behind: "Hi! I missed you." a female voice said.

Jacen frowned. "Um… Do I know you?" he said, paling. It was a Zeltron. A race of red and purple skinned near humans. A race Luke, Leia, Han had warned him about. Not that they were bad or evil, just that they were clingy and for some reason they were attracted to Jedi, especially those of Skywalker blood. He could see that the clingy girl hanging onto him was perhaps his age, a year younger or older maybe, it difficult to say.

"No. But I'd like to get to know you." she purred as she hugged him again, letting her fingers touch and play with his back.

He sighed. Let's see, what was it Luke had said? They are empaths and they have a combination of outer appearance and pheromones that makes them attractive. They also have quick reflexes and are formidable fighters. "Um... Could you let me go?" he asked as her hand was moving inside his pants.

"No, I'm comfortable." she said.

"O'My DARLINGS HURRY UP!" a female voice yelled. Jacen could see an older Zeltron female.

Suddenly three more Zeltrons were there, another female and two males.

One of the males spoke. "He is hugging our baby." he said. The other male nodded. "Now what is your name, boy?" he asked.

Jacen swallowed, seeing all of them had guns and looked dangerous. "Um, Jacen Organa Solo," he studdered out.

The angry sounding one looked like he was blushing. "Oh, don't be afraid boy. I'm just happy my daughter has found somebody. She is 17 after all and showed no interest in boys or girls before now." He looked at the other Zeltrons in the room.

Jacen winced. "Um, stop that." he said to the girl climbing to his body and trying to remove his pants.

"They are so cute together," one of the adult females said. The others nodded. "He is embarrassed."

That made them all say: "O so cute. Young love!"

Jacen was horrified by the situation. "HEY, I don't even KNOW your daughter." he defended himself.

The other male suddenly looked angry. "IS my daughter not good enough for you?" he roared.

Jacen winced fearfully. "No. No, she's perfect. I meant I... I don't even know her name." He frowned. "Um, wait a minute; I thought HE was her dad."

The girl hanging on his body licked his ear. "I'm Samy." she purred in his ear. He was so perfect.  
The second female spoke up. "The four of us are all married together. We are bisexual, twice the fun, and twice the pleasure."

The first female nodded. "And we were so worried that our baby was frigid or un-interested in boys or girls. All she did was play with computers and program things. No having sex or going to wild parties, only strange dreams. You have to understand how worried it made us."

The other female nodded. "It even looked like she was…" she swallowed "Shy."

Jacen blinked. "Would you stop that? Not now. Um Samy" he said, pulling his pants back up. The girl was holding them down. "Later, promise." she purred.

Jacen sighed, seeing four dads. And four mothers, there was only one thing he could say. "Alright, later," he was so dead.

The girl let him go as she yelled: "Yay, I got a Jedi boyfriend." She quickly hugged his arm, not letting it go.

The loud voiced Zeltron paused. "Wait a minute. Did you say Organa Solo?" he frowned. "I used to be a bodyguard to a Leia Organa when she was visiting our planet. She did have a cute smuggler on her hands. Han Solo was his name." He was almost sure the two were famous even outside Zeltron. But he couldn't stand politics.

His husband nodded and so did his wife, both of them.

One of them frowned: "Remember? I did visit Coruscant to give Luke some Jedi artifact, but I met your mother and father instead. Both of us were pregnant at the time." She remembered that they both had felt a strange spark going through them as she gave her the artifact. An old statue that was created as a symbol of love once many millenniums ago during the time a Jedi could marry and have children.

The others suddenly realized who their daughter had fallen for. She was not crazy.

"Skywalker blood," one of the mothers whispered. The other nodded "A strong Jedi also." She whispered back.  
The first dad sighed. "Jedi and Skywalker blood," he frowned. "The question is are you on a mission and did you come in a transport or a fighter?"

Jacen was still dumfounded by the girl licking his ear and stuttered his answer. "Um… The Enterprise, she's a transport. Why?"

"Excellent." was all he heard from the dads and mothers as they walked out. "Let's find out more about the Enterprise then."

*

Later, at the home of Carlos Nieto and Sophia Kerr

Lowbackas fur was shiny, fresh, and smelled of flowers and forest. He looked happy.  
Jaina looked amused.

Jacen was trying to crawl under the table.

Samy was using him as a chair.

Xander was trying not to laugh. "By the way, Samy, I met your parents, wonderful people. They even said you could join us. But I have to warn you, death is always nearby where we walk."

Samys smile lighted up the room. "Great, then I can get to know my boyfriend." Jacen was confused and looked like he was trying to find a way to either run away in fear or carry her to a bedroom and have wild sex.

Jaina looked at Xander. "What? You can't take her with us. She'll be in mortal peril."

Xander replied: "If we don't let her come with us, they said they would hire another transport captain to follow us." He whispered in Jaina ears. "There is more to the story, much more. Feel it in the Force." he said.

Jaina leaned away. Seeing the girl happily snuggled up with her twin brother who still had the most amusing look between utter fear and total happiness on his face, she finally understood why Luke had warned them about Zeltrons.  
But using the Force she could see a fire of pure happiness burning inside both Samy and Jacen. Except Jacen, being stupid ignored it.

Sophia, the owner of the home, smiled. "It's truly a strange galaxy." she said in English. Unlike Carlos, she didn't speak Basic very well. She understood it perfectly, but talking? Not so good.

Xander nodded. "Yes. It is. You two have made a wonderful home here." he said.

Carlos nodded. "Yes, it took some time to adapt." A pling from the kitchen told him the food was ready. "It took quite some time to find the correct mix of strange foods to make this." he said, carrying the food to the table.  
Xander gaped. "Is this what I think it is?"

Sophia nodded. "Spaghetti made out of real pasta or something that tastes just like pasta, with tomato sauce. We grow our own tomatoes." she explained.

When the gate kidnapped them from New York, other things had followed also. Mostly plants, but also a strange human that said he felt sick and then suddenly exploded into dust.

Lowbacka, Jaina and the others ate the food with joy and curiosity.

Xander was eating with happiness. "Do you have other Earth recepies?" he asked.

Carlos nodded. "We experiment. Sophia has quite the talent in finding out how to make Earth foods from alien raw-materials. You can buy our recepies. Most cook droids can follow them."

In the living room they had photos and post cards from Earth, mostly New York, and micro models of the Statue of Liberty.  
Xander smiled. "I have got to get one of these."

Jaina was puzzled. "What is it?" she asked, frowning.

Xander explained. "It's an idea and a dream. USA, the country I come from on Earth, based their laws on ideals of freedom and justice. France, which is another country, gave USA that statue as a gift and as sign of friendship. The real statue is over fifty meters tall" he said.

Carlos piped in. "Actually, the pedestal it stands on is over 90 meters. The statue itself is only 46 meters tall." he explained.

Samy frowned. "That not very impressive" she said.

Xander hesitated. "Um... It was build during a time when there were no big machines and no droids. Only sailing ships and steam powered engines."

He looked at the tiny statue. "It was man made with pure skill using copper. But the important thing about the statue is not how it was made, but what it symbolizes. It stands for justice and liberty to all."

Samy nodded as she too looked at the statue. "I understand now." she said. It was an ugly statue, but justice and liberty to all that was a good thing. Then she quickly grabbed Jacen so that he would not escape.

She knew waiting for the right guy to come along was a good idea and what she needed to do know was capture him and never let him run away. She wondered if she could find manacles somewhere. He did look bit nervous.

**12. 4-4**

Note: Before we start with the next part of this chapter our thanks again to Inachis for her help. You make those much easier to read.

4-4

Hours later

Only Carlos, Sophia and Xander were still awake and they were talking about Earth. Jacen, Lowbacka and Samy had gone home/back to the ship.

It had been a wonderful talk. Carlos also told him what the name of the Hutt that had kidnapped the humans from Earth was. Xander frowned. If they were lucky, that Hutt could have information in his data banks that would allow him to save the others born on Earth.

The next day Carlos Nieto and Sophia Kerr followed them to the hangar. Carlos laughed at the name Enterprise. It was perfect. "Now you only need a pointy eared Vulcan," he joked.

Xander grinned. "Yeah."

They said their goodbyes and then they lifted off to soon enter hyperspace.

Jaina turned to Xander. "Should we visit Junas?" she asked.

Xander shrugged. "The ship holds five passengers and one in the jail cell."

Samy reminded them that she could sleep in Jacen´s room. The moment she found a good lock pick she would sleep in there anyway.

Jacen looked afraid.

Lowbacka looked amused.

"Back to business" Xander explained. "I'm not going to put Samy in the jail cell and Junas may or may not be a spy for the wrong people. Hold your friends close, but hold your enemies closer."

Samy spoke up. "Listen, I told you, I can sleep in Jacen's room."

Xander frowned. "Well, that would solve a lot of problems once we pick up Junas." Behind Samy he could see Jacen waving in his hand signing –No way no way- "Yes that sounds like a good plan," he said, ignoring Jacen.

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, sounds good, Samy lets go and talk, I want to know everything I can about my twin-brother's girlfriend." she said to Samy, grinning.

The cockpit door closed.

"You are evil." Jacen said.

Xander shrugged. "You like her. I can feel it" he said.

Jacen frowned. "I like Tenel-Ka. I don't know Samy," he said irritably.

Xander nodded. "I know, but let's be honest, whenever Samy is around I feel a burning flame of pure happiness in you and in her both. With Tenel-ka I feel a tiny spark, which your brain tries to hide for some reason." He leaned forward. "So who do you really like? "

Lowbacka nodded. He liked Tenel-ka and Jacen, but they were not that good for each other. Both tried to be the boss and both failed.

Jacen growled. "Sith spit, that's pure Sith spit," he swore and walked out. Why did his friends make things so hard?  
He loved Tenel-Ka. Sure it was difficult and she was not the warmest girl, but he loved her. Right? She was intelligent, fascinating, skilled, and powerful. She also looked sexy and wonderful and she never backed down from a challenge.  
Samy, he did not even know her. Well, except for stupid flashes of the past that might have told him about the girl and how lonely she had been in her home with overflowing parties and overemotional mothers and fathers.  
Swearing about meddlesome friends the young Jedi walked into his room.

Samy frowned. "He feels angry, no, more confused than before," she said, turning to Jaina. "Why is he so confused?" she asked.

Jaina shrugged. "He is a boy and in love with a fantasy." She looked the red skinned girl in the face. "Why my brother?" she asked.

Samy shrugged. "I had dreams my whole life. When I was young I would dream of my prince. He and his sister and then his baby brother lived in a deep underground fortress. A beautiful white haired lady was taking care of them." She said, remembering the dreams. "Then an evil man tried to kidnap them, but their real mother and father came and saved them all." Taking a deep breath she continued.

"Sometimes they were living in a gigantic city and the three of them would sneak down hidden tunnels to have adventures in the underground."

By now Jaina was looking pale. "Always some dark lord was trying to kidnap them. As I grew older the dreams came further apart, but more clear. I could see the two brothers and his twin sister training to be Jedi. I even learned some small tricks myself and my worst dream was when a dark lord kidnapped them. Tricking them to fight each other using lightsabers, with the help of holographic illusions and mind tricks, the brothers and sister were fighting each other."

"So am I Force sensitive?" she frowned. "For some reason Luke refused to visit our world. That was rude of him." She wondered why.

If he had visited, they would have had a gigantic party and many girls would have been overjoyed, trying to get the Skywalker into bed. He, according to history, is extremely shy, but great in bed. "I managed to convince my family to visit the Minos cluster, because on Shesharile I would find my prince."

Jaina was pale now. Some of what Samy had said were things nobody knew about. Except for Jacen, Luke and herself and a few others, only the Solo family knew.

Standing behind a nearby wall Xander moved out and gripped Jaina in a hug. "Now you understand." Samy's mother and fathers had told him about it all and he could feel the truth in their voices. Behind Xander Lowbacka stood silently pondering the power and will of the Force.

Jacen was in his room and could not help himself as he overheard his sister and Samy talk. No way, absolutely no way was he a slave of the Force.

Unknown to him an old statue, once created to help Jedi and their wife/husband to communicate and which was now sitting in the Jedi Museum, had accidentally helped create a spiritual bond between the two. Many months before either of them were born.

Thanks to Jacen´s twin-bond with his sister, he had never noticed his dreams about Samy.

Now they were growing stronger and Jacen was afraid.

*

Later in space

Lowbacka growled. Xander nodded. "We have to make a short stop first." He turned to look at his hairy friend. "The Mestra system, one of the top ten greatest asteroid fields in the galaxy."

Lowbacka looked surprised. "Greel" he said.

Xander nodded. "Correct. No planet, just stone and artificial homes, like on space stations."

He could feel her as she slinked down beside him in the Co-pilot chair. "Hi Jaina" he said.

She smiled, feeling his emotions more and more by the Force. "Hi you self, how long to normal space?" she asked.  
Xander replied, "25 minutes, just wanted you here early to double check everything. The maneuvering thrusters seem to be acting up."

Jaina nodded as she helped him double check the ship. "Nothing wrong here." She frowned. "That's it. They installed a new setting on your control. It's just a computer circuit they installed. It is a classic smuggler trick. It makes the ship more sensitive to your movements. It's great in a fight or if you are escaping, but bad if you are trying to land with heavy cargo on board. The ship tends to be a bit more jumpy." She frowned. "There." she said, pressing a button. "Standard cargo setting."

Xander pulled the maneuver control. "And now it's moving like a turtle again. Where was that button again?"  
Lowbacka shrugged as he walked out.

*

25 minutes later

With Xander as the pilot, Jaina as the co-pilot and Jacen by the communication and navigational controls, Samy was at the sensors. This was so great. She had trained on computers so long and now finally she could put her skills to use.

Lowbacka was sitting behind them all. If they needed help, he would fill in as a tech. But he missed his X-wing.

The ship suddenly arrived in normal space.

Outside they could see the gigantic asteroid field of the Mestra system.

Xander said, "Alright, Samy look out for enemy ships and people with names that starts with Darth." The other grinned at  
Sammy's confused look. "Jacen, find me the navigational buoys and Mestra prime."

Samy was puzzled. "How do I do that?" she asked. Jaina chuckled. "He was kidding."

Jacen spoke up. "I got the buoys and Mestra prime. It's pretty deep in there."  
M-TD, the tiny translator droid Lowbacka owned, piped in, "The odds to navigate an asteroid field like this are…"

Xander interrupted the droid. "Wait. Did you include navigational buoys, before you calculated the chances for navigating the asteroid field and the fact that this is a mostly stable asteroid field?" he said to the tiny rust bucket.

M-TD frowned. He might have forgotten those details. "The odds of surviving are 95 % or more," he said quietly.

Xander sighed, worthless rust bucket, able to talk fluently in more than six forms of communication.

Then he put on the speed and raced into the asteroid field.

Samy called out. "Look out, coming from the left," she warned him as she put the information on his screen.

Xander smiled, now he knew why they had trouble finding buyers for the metal mined in this place. It looked far more dangerous than it was, but as long as he kept within the path marked by the buoys, he would be in an area that was mostly stable and was held stable by the aid of repulsor field generators.

There they were, a huge city flying in the dark, with repulsor beams and shields keeping it safe in the middle of the asteroid field.

"Please open a channel Jacen," he asked.

"This is the Enterprise, Captain Jedi Xander Harris coming in for refueling." Xander said to the space control station.  
A moment of silent filled the radio before they were answered.

"This is Mestra space station, welcome to Mestra prime. Hanger 23 is open. Hold speed at 20 mglt."  
Slowly the Enterprise followed the landing beacon into the huge hangar, where a luxury yacht was already parked.  
Softly the landing gear of the ship touched the hangar floor.

Jacen blinked. "I'm impressed, you can land a ship," he said, sounding truly surprised.

Jaina smirked. "It took time and hard training," she said, faking sadness.

Lowbacka nodded sagely.

Samy was once again puzzled by the exchange. "What? He landed perfectly," she said.

Xander laughed. "The first flight lesson I took was when I had to survive and stole this ship from a drug smuggler. The first time I landed a ship I had no idea what I was doing and almost crashed the thing. I did manage to destroy a tree on my way down," he explained. "These guys are still afraid of me landing a ship," he said with irony.

Jaina kissed him. "And that's the reward for a good landing."

*

Later in Mestra prime

The Enterprise was refueled and the larder had been restocked also. The food had been quite expensive. Not that Xander was surprised. Mestra had to import all their food, so buying food here was bound to be expensive.

The city, half of it carved inside huge asteroids, was beautiful. Cave buildings worthy of kings.  
All their carvings were literally screaming, "We are rich".

The inside was full of interesting stores to visit.

"Look" he said, dragging Jaina into a jewelry store.

Jaina blinked as he let her go inside, she saw him go up to the store owner and talk to him.

Moments later he had paid for something, something big.

*

Later in a cafe

Jacen was curious. "If you got a wedding ring in there, you better ask mom and dad first. My sister is still only 17," he said.

Xander blushed. "I know that. I'm not that stupid. I'll wait until she turns 18 before I ask her if she wants to be my fiancé.  
That way I can escape Han Solo's anger," he said, rolling his eyes.

Jaina grinned. "Really, I accept?" she said smiling happy.

Xander blinked. "Um, honey your dad is going to kill me."

She frowned. "But on the other hand, why let fear of Han Solo stand in the way of love? The moment I have real money I'm going to get you an engagement ring."

Jaina nodded happily.

Jacen frowned, that had not worked the way he had planned. "Um what did you buy then?"

Xander smiled "This." He said holding up a huge crystal ball. "One of the ghosts I talk to explained and taught me a skill that lets a Jedi project an image of a memory in a crystal. The more advanced version of this skill involved technology, holographic projectors with a power source and a pure crystal that you could use to create a holocron."

Samy started. "Ghosts?" she asked in surprise.

Xander shrugged. "Old dead Jedi seem to like visiting me and talking to me every now and then." He put the crystal on the table. "Watch."

The crystal sparked and suddenly they saw a five year old girl crying on the ground. Suddenly a dark haired boy appeared.  
"My yellow crayon is broken." The girl said fearfully. "What if the teachers hate me?"

The five year old boy shrugged. "Here, take mine." he said. "I'm Alexander" The red haired girl smiled and hugged him. They could see the young girl trying to say Alexander, but she was stuck on the lex part. Her expression became resolved as she turned to the boy. "Your name is Xander now, because Abexander is stupid."

The five year old Xander nodded. "Alright," he had gotten a nickname.

The image stopped playing. They could see Xander looked tired. "And that is how I meet Willow."

Jaina smiled. "You looked so cute. You have got to teach me how to do that." Samy nodded, "Yeah, so cute."

As the waiter arrived with food, Xander put away the crystal, although he was planning to show them more scenes from Sunnydale later. Only Jaina knew English, but she wasn't too good at it, but knowing an unknown language could be useful.

As they were eating a loud obnoxious voice jelled out. "You, I challenge you to a duel of honor."

Xander raised an eyebrow as he turned around.

Seeing a dark haired man dressed in robe like pants and a shirt. Behind him Xander could see the idiot he had insulted at the party a while ago.

Xander answered. "Not interested."

The man frowned. Unless the Jedi accepted, he would not get the money he had been promised. "What, are you to afraid to fight like man? Not surprising as you surround yourself with whores."

Xander turned and looked at the man with a lazy eye.

Jaina's hand on his knee stopped him. "That's the best insult you can come up with? Intelligence sure is a rare gift in this part of the universe." he twitched. "Oops."

Jaina looked at him with irritation. "You were supposed to ignore the idiot."

Jacen was a bit curious. "What do you mean with better insults?"

Xander shrugged. "He could have said something like," Jaina sighed resignedly. "That the girls were boys dressed up like girls or that I might like my men hairy," he explained.

Looking at the duelist he said: "Correct, that's a much more biting insult, but calling me fearful when I know I'm not, is not going to work at all."

The duelist opened his mouth. "So you…" he was interrupted by Xander. He could see holo cameras hiding nearby.

"No no. I already used that as an example on how to insult. Come up with your own insult. There are so many different ways you could insult me."

He grinned. "Or are you so unable of insulting others that you need a script writer?" Xander looked at his cup of caf and put it down again. "Drugs? Putting drugs in my caf, now that is an insult. But I'm not angry at you." he said turning to the café waiter, who paled.

Xander smiled at him. "So why did you drug my caf?"

The waiter swallowed. "He ordered me to," he said, shivering in fear.

Xander turned to his girlfriend. "Jaina, can I show the idiot how Jedi Knights fight?"

Jaina nodded.

Xander stood up and pointed at the rich idiot he had insulted at the party. "You, I challenge you to a duel, you inbred, incompetent imbecile, who is even unable to hire competent fighters to do his dirty work."

The professional duelist started. "Hey. I chal…" He was silenced by a wookiee that grabbed his head.

Jaina shook her head. "Wait your turn." she admonished him.

Lowbacka forced the man's head to move in a nodding motion.

The noble man backed down. "What? Are you unable to stand like a man? You shivering squirming worm." Xander said. "Is it just you or are all of your fathers cum droppings the same gutless wonders?"

The duelists listen in rapped fascination.

By now the noble man was red in fury. "I accept."

Xander sneered. "Accept what? Talking is supposed to separate sentient beings from animals."

The man was livid now. "I accept the challenge. Lightfoils at dawn."

"Listen, you poster boy for pre-emptive abortion. Lightblades and right now." he said. "I have work to do and places to go, you worthless waste of human skin."

"I… I accepted the terms." the man stuttered in his anger.

Xander turned. "You wanted a duel also asshole. Five seconds after he is done, you are next."

The professional frowned at that. If he did it like that, he would get no money. "No, I go first." he said.  
Xander shrugged. "Lightblades now." he answered.

The duelist was angry at having a furry hair ball that smelled like roses detain him and it was clouding his senses.

Xander turned around to the holo-camera documenting the occurrence. "You heard it, they accepted the terms. Lightblades and not lightfoils, but any energy bladed weapon."

The professional duelist swore. This was bad.

From somewhere an official officer walked up, nodding. "That is what the camera says".

Xander walked out of the cafe. "Ready." he said, holding his lightsaber up. The dagger was attached at the end making it a double bladed lightsword. The duelist grabbed his lightfoil, a thin string sprung up from the handle as he activated it. A force field around the string created a thinner and weaker blade then what the lightsaber had.

Snap Hiss.

Two blades, one short and the other long, hissed out from the Jedi lightsaber. The crowed watched in awe at the strange double bladed lightsaber. It looked impossible to use.

The officer swallowed. "Ready? Set, fight." he said, quickly moving away.

Cut, stab, slash the duelist jumped in, but each attack was parried either by the dagger or by the sword. The Jedi seemed to fight defensively only, taking no action except for parrying. Then suddenly something clicked in the eyes of the Jedi.  
Xander grinned. He had him. The guy was good, was being the key word.

Suddenly with a swinging motion the long end of his lightsaber came down just as the duelist dodged and parried the short dagger like end. Xander danced aside, swinging the long side of the blade down.

The duelist frowned as the Jedi seemed to dance, the two sides of the blade were everywhere. There, he saw an opening.  
He jumped in, striking fast in the middle of the chest and the Jedi would not be able to parry unless he wanted to cut off his own arm with the long blade.

Hiss and the Jedi parried with the short end.

The duelist looked in surprise and before he had a chance to do something else, the long end of the blade rested under his jaw. "Surrender" Xander said. That's when the duelist saw it. The double-bladed lightsaber was now in two pieces, one normal and one dagger size.

Xander grinned. "A good fight," he looked up. "Right, next," he said.

The noble man looked afraid now.

The official nodded. "Are you ready?"

They nodded and the fight was on.

Stab dodge. Stab dodge. Xander jelled: "Ole" and wished he could slap the idiot in the ass with his sword without cutting him in half.

As the noble man came back for more, Xander asked him a question. "Do any of you know why Jedi use Lightsabers and not lightfoils? After all, lightfoils are easier to build."

There was silence.

"I'll show you," he said. With one swift attack he slashed hard at the noble man's light-foil. A sound like an explosion was heard as half of the foil was sent flying in the air and the lower back short-circuited in the noble man's hand.  
Xander held up his lightsabers. "And that's the difference between toys used by boys and the adult variant." he said.

The noble man stuttered. "I surrender."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Let's get out of here," he said as they moved away.

Jaina was amazed. "How did you do that?"

Xander grinned. "I read up on light-foils. Anything a lightsaber can do a light-foil can do, too. Except that a lightsaber can cut deeper and the light-foil depends on a thin energy coil to project the energy field around it. Thin coils can break if they are exposed to a weapon that focuses energy better."

Lowbacka nodded, like a lightsaber. Its energy was far more focused.

*

Two days later outside the sol system Insharil

The crew of the Enterprise was hiding as they read the information on the system. It was an empty system, with no native sentient life. Its irregular orbit made its winter below -10 even in the equator region and during the summer half of the year it was too close to the sun, with temperatures of over 45 degrees Celsius.

The sad part was that the difference between the polar region and the equator was not that big, great storms helped to spread the warmth over the planet, but according to Talon Kardde's information, the pirates that had been plundering outside the Minos Cluster were hiding near the equator.

Xander nodded. "Let's sneak in. Its spring, so the snow should be gone by now." He said studding the holo map of the planet. "Any ideas?" he asked.

The others blinked as they watched him.

Xander sighed. "Come on. I'm from a primitive ass end of space type planet. You guys have all the knowledge."

Jaina shrugged. "Ride in and kick butt. It's worked before."

Jacen shook his head "We could observe the group first. From what I read it's only a Correlian corvette and perhaps half a dozen old X-wings."

Samy asked, "Why don't we call for backup?"

They blinked.

Jaina held up a tiny comlink. "Rogue squadron?" They nodded.

The Enterprise changed direction again.

*

Sometime later on a nearby planet

The native groups of humans, on Stone Age level of technology, were keeping far away from the alien starships that had landed on the island.

Gavin Darklighter climbed out of his ship. "Goodag. You ask for a group willing to do some damage and keep it silent?"  
Beside him walked General Wedge Antilles.

Jacen grinned at them. "Hi Wedge," he said. Jaina rushed forward and hugged the man. "Hi!" she said to the man who was a close friend of the family.

Wedge nodded. "I wanted a good explanation to why Jacen and Lowbacka, who are officially missing, are suddenly here and looking good."

Xander answered him. "Luke trusts you so I'm going to show you," he said, giving the older man a tiny object. "We found this in Jaina's X-wing. Evidence indicates that every Jedi craft given to them by the Republic, has a similar explosive installed and the Jedi have started to die or suddenly vanish during missions."

Wedge turned to one of the pilots that stood silently by. "Corran, is this true?"

The Jedi master and commander of Rogue Squadron nodded. "My wife gave me a warning. We managed to remove the explosive from my X-Wing. But my investigations told me that at least one person in the support crew is part of the conspiracy."

Wedge swore. "That is not good. It could become a civil war."

Corran sighed. "Wedge I don't like to say it, but the core reason the old Republic worked and was stable, were the Jedi Knights. The reason it fell was because that the Jedi order had grown weak and the Republic too large. All Palpatine had to do, was push."

Gavin frowned. "And the New republic is almost as big as the old one was before the fall." He did not like the implications of that.

Xander nodded. "We have a pirate base to take out and sure the four of us could attack with lightsabers swinging and pirates dying. But I was thinking something more along the lines of taking them alive." He then looked at Wedge. "And here comes the real trick. We owe somebody that helped us remove the explosives and warn other Jedi. After the pirates are done, we leave the place and IF a smuggler should happen to arrive and plunder the place, we will be too late to stop him," he said simply.

Corran Horn and Wedge nodded and so did Gavin, but he looked unhappy about it.

Xander smiled. "So who are the pilots?" he asked.

Corran frowned. "The best of the best, you said a land mission so we found some we could trust in the Wraith Squadron and asked them to join us. Officially they are all on vacation."

Xander blinked. Wraith Squadron, where had he heard about them?

Seeing his confusion Wedge explained, the Wraiths had been his brain child after all. "The Wraiths are a team of ace pilots, elite pilots who could fight almost as well on the ground as they did in space."

He looked at the youth. "Many times the Rogue Squadron had to fly and land to finish the fight. With the Wraiths I did the reverse. They are a team of elite fighters, infiltrators, saboteurs, snipers, and demolition experts who can fly almost as well as they fight on the ground."

Around him the pilots puffed up in pride. It was no secret that Rogue Squadron was the brain child of Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles and Wes Jansson, but the Wraiths were his creation.

The Rogues had been Wedge's home, his family, his love and his adopted child. He loved the squadron and was proud of it, but the Wraith's were his child and they could hear in his voice the pride of a proud father.

Even if the heroic actions of the Wraith's were seldom heard about, it was still the secret weapon of the Republic.

"That so? You guys have got to be incredible then." Xander said. The others laughed at the young man's eager voice.

The Rogue's had seen him and Jaina in action, training with seekers, and their laughter was out of fondness, but the Wraith's had not.

A young man with a hard face marred by scars frowned. "So how can we be sure you guys can keep up with us?"

Now it was the members of Rogue Squadron that laughed.

Corran Horn chuckled. "They were trained by Kyle Katarn and me." The Wraith's stopped laughing at that. Among them Kyle was a legend, a dark whisper that kept Imperial officers awake at night screaming for their mommy.

Wedge nodded. "So how do we do it then?" he asked and looked at Xander.

Xander looked at the sky. "Why me? Alright, first we use infiltration to find their weaknesses and strengths. Perhaps  
destroy or sabotage the fighters while they are grounded. You said sniper, correct? If it comes to a fight, then he could give us support."

Xander frowned. "You are 16 right now. That's a squadron and four men. We infiltrate and destroy or sabotage the base generator, then attack. Give us a squadron's worth of air support to scare them and force them to escape, so that they hide outside of their base."

Wedge nodded, "Where you and the others are waiting, with a sniper." He said. It wasn't a bad plan.

Corran asked, "What if they have an escape ship waiting?"

Xander smiled. "I'm counting on it. That's why I said a squadron's worth. Don't tell me you guys need 12 fighters to wreck havoc on a pirate base?" he looked at the pilots. "Two to four fighters will be attacking. The rest waits for the runner and forces it down."

They laughed at his badly hidden insult.

Samy raised her hand. "Um what will I do?"

Xander frowned. "Lowbacka, Jacen, both of you are good pilots. The Enterprise would be useful as air support."

Lowbacka growled out an affirmative. He would do it.

Xander nodded. "Right, Lowbacka and Samy, you are the Enterprise crew. Your mission is to coordinate with the Slayer Squadron."

One pilot blinked. "Slayer squadron?" he asked.

Xander turned to him. "Half of you are Rogues and the rest are Wraiths and you're both the best. So's the Slayer. The Slayer was and is a girl on my home world born with powers that rival that of a Jedi. She has the natural instincts to hunt down evil, anyone murdering innocents for fun. With those instincts came also strength and speed almost four times that of a normal human. She also has a natural talent for any form of fighting. A normal slayer learns in a week what others spend months or years learning when it comes to fighting. A slayer's powers are activated suddenly without warning when she reaches the age between 12 - 18 or it could stay inactive her whole life, depending on the situation. "

One female grinned: "GIRL POWER. Now that is a kick ass woman," she said.

Xander lifted the crystal ball. "Not really. Normally a slayer lives perhaps a year or so before she dies. There are real monsters on my home world," he said, focusing a memory of Buffy kicking ass in super speed surrounded by demons and vampires.

The squadron closed in as they watched a tiny young girl kick ass in over drive, sending beings twice her size flying with a strength that made them crash true walls and dusting human looking beings.

Xander continued. "The human monsters are vampires. They are a parasite that infects dead bodies and reanimates them. Vampires need a constant flow of blood and other fluids to keep their body moving. Use the correct weapon and they turn to dust."

Corran Horn looked up. "You have to tech me that crystal trick," he said. Xander nodded. "Luke told me a bit about your home world. I just hope we are never going to see those beings here," he said.

Xander nodded. "Me too."

The newly named Slayer Squadron nodded. "Poor girl, those things moved so fast. Was that your arm I saw?" one asked.

Xander nodded. "You saw everything through my eyes. I was sixteen and had no training then." He grinned. "We found out that while a Slayer is the greatest student in the art of fighting, they are the worst ever as teachers. The fact that a normal human is unable to become a master in any form of combat in only a week is not something they seemed to grasp or something Buffy at least was unable to understand."

The squadron grinned. "How good was she?" one asked.

Xander frowned. "No idea. But I would not be surprised if she managed to defeat Master Corran or Luke Skywalker in a fight."

The Jedi Master, after seeing that and hearing the conviction in the young Jedi, simply nodded. "It is possible. She has the power of combat, a perfect warrior in a way."

*

**13. 4-5**

Note: I know you are all probably bored with those kind of notes, but it has to be done because she earned it. So again our tx to Inachis for her work.

Note2: Happy Eastern to all of you.

4-5

Later on the planet Insharil

Sneaking up onto the pirate base was easier then Xander had expected. Then of course it was not a real military base.

The security was a joke. The crew was lazy and except for the animal traps that he almost was captured in, there was nothing he had to worry about. The members of the Wraith, now Slayer Squadron were on the ground team, he waved his hand as they joined up. "I put micro charges on the fighters. They will not lift unless somebody replaces the broken cables."

Micro-charges were a new thing he had learned about, they were tiny charges that created almost soundless small explosions for destroying power cables or other small, soft or fragile objects. The best part about the micro-charges was that now every one of the pirate starfighters was unable to fly and finding the fault was almost impossible. The tech computer would read it as a complete engine malfunction when in actuality only one cable had been cut. It would take perhaps 12 minutes to replace or half a minute to patch as an emergency repair, if you could find it.

As they spoke, unheard and unnoticed, the tiny micro charges suddenly went puff, cutting of vital power cables inside the old X-wings and the even older Z-95 Headhunters these pirates were using.

Putting the last speaker in place they sneaked out.

Jaina and he had sneaked inside as many buildings as possible. The pirates had used space containers as buildings, some of which were over 30 meters wide and 25 meters tall and around 60 meters long. It worked perfectly. They looked ugly, but it was a fast and perfect solution to the housing problem. Those containers could carry live cargo in space as long as they had energy to power their life support units.

"Slayer Squadron, show them what you are made of."

In space Wedge's voice was heard over the radio. "Slayers 1-2, are you ready? Take the first run," he said. "Slayers 3-4, you will follow at a normal distance. Let's not be pushy boys, the girls might be shy."

Suddenly part of the base exploded, sending a rain of dirt into the sky.

More and more explosions were heard as the X-Wings attacked. From a distance you could see they were attacking the ground and some of the containers, but not the pirates or the containers that the pirates lived in.

Panic broke out as the fighters failed to work. When the pirates tried to run for the hills, the X-wings attacked them again, driving them back to the base. There was only one way to run in, into the valley and the sharp cliffs that would protect them or so some thought as they ran. Some were driving their speeders. Others were sneaking into the underground hangar where they had an old patrol ship secreted away.

As the first pirate entered the valley they suddenly saw a man diving down from the cliff, holding two lightsabers. The Jedi landed on the speeder skiff just in front of the driver. One Force push and the pirate was flying out of the skiff. Xander pushed the lightsaber into the engine, making the skiff crash down.

He was out of the craft before it crashed.

Jaina joined him side by side as Jacen took to the sky with his Star-slinger and hunted down the pirates on speeder bikes or swoops.

The voice of Gavin echoed around the valley. "Surrender now or you will be dead soon."

Seeing the Jedi walk in, parrying blaster bolts with their lightsabers, one by one the pirates surrender. Only a small number were brave (or stupid) enough to challenge them.

As most of the criminals had given up, a small gang armed with energy weapons attacked. Bolt after bolt of energy rained on the Jedi as they parried.

Xander was feeling rather irritated. What were they trying to do? He saw yet another one lift a heavy blaster rifle. Well that pirate would get the blast returned to him, he thought. Here they were actually being nice and trying to capture the pirates alive and they refused to give up.

Then suddenly Jaina screamed, "JUMP!"

It was almost too late. Just as Xander jumped the ground exploded from the powerful concussion rifle. Landing Xander did not look happy. A Force push and the rain of stones turned into missiles which showed the pirates the error of their ways.  
As the guy with the concussion rifle lifted it again to shoot, Xander stood ready with his lightsaber. His whole body screamed, "Fire away if you got the guts". Jaina looked nervous. She knew Xander was not stupid enough to try parrying a concussion rifle blast.

The second the pirate pulled the trigger Xander forced the pipe of the gun down and the blast made the ground near where the pirate stood explode.

That is when the fight stopped.

*

Later

Xander twitched at the pain in his arm. "It is nothing," he said, as Jaina did first aid on him.  
Jaina shook her head. "That was a concussion rifle." She shivered. If she had not warned him, Xander might have died as he tried to parry the rifle attack.

Xander shrugged. "I know it was a concussion rifle now, but it looked like a blaster rifle. I'm sorry."  
Jaina relaxed. "I was so worried that you would die."

Jacen returned with Lowbacka and Samy. "Reporting for duty," he said. Not really his style to be second in command, but Xander's plan had been good. "We got the runners," he added.

Wedge called in from above, "General Wedge Antilles reporting that Slayer squadron has defeated the pirates in a show of skill I only believed the Rouges or the Wraiths could have." They could hear the grin in his voice.

Xander responded: "Excellent. All right, let us cage up the pirates in one of the space containers able to carry LIVE cargo. My ship is able to lift 150 tons and it's only about 200 pirates and just a 12 hour journey to Eliad." He then continued. "I want you all to know this. Republic officers and men are not beings that plunder from fallen enemies. But Republic beings that are officially on a vacation like you are having been known to find a souvenir or two," he said.

The Slayer squadron all arrived as they chained up the pirates in a container that they had checked then double checked to make sure it would work, once that was done the Rogues and the Wraiths looked through the left over objects, picking up some valued treasure.

Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Samy did the same thing.

Xander on the other hand was meditating over what was most useful or interesting. Soon small objects were picked up as they moved around.

"Samy, join me," he said. "Close your eyes and stretch out with the Force," he instructed. She felt a fluttering like a butterfly wing at first then stronger as she reached out into the Force. –Jacen- she said in her mind.  
On the other side Jacen twitched -Samy, what are you doing in my mind?- he questioned her, surprised that the girl knew telepathy.

Xander grinned. –I am teaching her Jacen. I was planning to let her learn meditation, but she seems to be a natural at contacting you- he mind talked to Jacen. Normally it was a difficult task in itself, but while meditating and with Samy as a link, it was easy.

*

Later in hyperspace

As it was only a 12 hour jump to Eliad, Corran who would be going to Mestra, asked for a lift for part of the way.  
Hanging under the Enterprise was a huge cargo container, loaded with pirates chained to the wall of the container. Its life-support system would give them air, gravity, heat and some lights.

Corran Horn held the crystal as he tried to imitate Xander's trick. At first nothing happened, and then slowly a wild flash of images appeared. "This is difficult to do," he said.

Xander nodded. "Yes. I trained using a piece of transparent plastic. The ghost said if I could get a flash of pictures inside that, I would have mastered the art of the crystal by the time I found one. Use Mestra crystals and gems. They are cheap and buy something for you wife while you there."

Then he grinned evilly. "Or I will tell her that you where there and forgot all about her."

Corran Horn did not look amused, but nodded. "A transparent plastic ball, do you have one?"

Xander brought out a small fist sized transparent rubber ball, a bouncing ball of the type children love to play with, but transparent. He focused and flashes were seen within the plastic. "Natural crystals seemed to work better, but this is a great training tool before you use a real one."

The rest of the afternoon he could enjoy himself by looking at Corran Horn staring at a plastic ball where nothing was happening.

Jacen was feeling sorry for his master. "Did you lie to him Xander? Is that the crystal training you did?"

Xander nodded. "Yes. I never said it was easy. Plastic demands more power and control then a real crystal, but if you make a mistake and the plastic is destroyed, it costs less to replace than a real crystal."

Behind him Corran jumped as the ball was suddenly crushed in his hand. "Oops." He frowned "Do you have any more?" he asked.

Xander nodded as he got a small bag from his spacer chest. "Here, knock yourself out. It took me fifty balls." He threw one at the wall, using telekinesis to change its path. "But then I also used them for telekinetic training."

The ball bounced in the air and every now and then it would bounce into the wrong direction as if somebody had hit it.

Then Xander captured it. "I heard you are good at illusions made through manipulating energy, but weak at telekinesis. Have you ever tried focusing the light in an area and using it as a weapon?"

Corran horn frowned. "Could you show me?"

Xander shrugged. "Nope, energy manipulation is nothing I'm a master off. But it has been done by past Jedi or so the ghosts say." he lied.

He never even asked the ghost about that, but it should be possible. Old myths said Jedi defeated enemies using the power of the lightside. Therefore it was not a lie.

After all both the ghost of Anakin and Luke Skywalker said that with the Force, anything is possible. Who was he to doubt them?

Corran Horn nodded. He had already sensed one Force ghost visit the boy. Use light? Like a laser perhaps, but how to collect and focus it? Had they looked, they would have seen how the area around Corran Horn turned darker and suddenly tiny blinding flashes of light could be seen coming from his hand.

Corran frowned. That was difficult, both to collect light and then to focus it. It just escaped in a flash. He looked at his hands. Perhaps he would need a focusing tool, like a crystal. He lifted the rubber ball. As he drained the area around him of the light the room became dark. Then a flash of blinding light was seen and the sound of a rubber ball exploding could be heard.

Corran Horn rubbed the burns on his hand. "Need something to focus the light in. A rubber ball was not good enough," he simply said.

Xander, blinking his eyes, nodded. "Use a gem, crystal or maybe glass then," he said, happy that he had told the Jedi Master the truth. "You do know, Master Corran, that what I told you were a theory, which you just proved to me, would work?"

Corran Horn blinked. "A theory, you lied to me?" he said in surprise.

Xander shook his head. "No. I would not lie. It was the truth from a certain point of view. Luke always said that anything is possible with the Force. Correct? Tionne told us about legends were Jedi strike down their enemies with the power of the lightside of the Force. The old myth was very specific that it was the power of the lightside."

Corran frowned. "I don't get it," he said. Then he opened his mouth again. "No, I do get it. What if it was not the power of the light, instead a Jedi manipulating the light itself?" he grinned. "If you ever get another idea like that, please do lie to me, would you?"

Xander huffed. "I do not consider that a lie, just active reconstruction of facts that turned into myth."  
Laughter echoed in the room.

The 12 hours passed quickly and Corran Horn left the transport in his X-wing and flew away to the Mestra system.

The Eliad system was right before them.

*

Later

The paper work had taken them a whole day to fill out. Xander had walked out sometime during it to find something special.

*

Later in the ship

Jaina looked with suspicion at the pile of bags that had been stacked up against the wall. "Um, what is all that?"

Xander pulled out a simple lightly armed battle jumpsuit, one size fits all. It was dark black with a picture on the back. A circle and inside it she could see a girl holding a sword and throwing an X-wing away or maybe using it as a throwing weapon. Around the circle was written: "Slayer squadron, just as good as any of the Rogues or Wraiths."

Xander smiled. "I'm going to send these over to the guys in Rogue and Wraith Squadron that helped us. You guys also get one each."

Jaina giggled. The Slayer crest was fun. 

-KA- 

Later that morning

Xander returned from the cockpit. "Luke is calling a meeting. We have to pick up Corran, he knows where it is."

Jaina nodded. "To Mestra then," she just hoped the fly guy had not vanished from there in the mean time.

Samy frowned. "Do you guys ever stay on a planet?" She had heard about spacers, but this was ridiculous.  
The young Jedi Knights looked at each other, slowly nodding, "Sometimes."

End of Chapter 4

**14. 5-0**

Note: It's us again and now we have to say our humble Thank you to Inachis for all her work.

5-0

Four days later

Corran Horn was once again back on the Enterprise and they were on their way to see Luke. Xander was currently meditating inside the jail cell. With so many onboard Samy had started to sleep in Jacen's room. She found a lock pick and he gave up. The girl had calmed down somewhat lately. During their first meeting, she had been overtaken by joy that her dreams were real and had lost control over her emotions.

The Jedi had come to an agreement. The jail cell would work as a meditation chamber. Anybody inside were to be left alone.  
Not that Xander was completely alone.

"Good after noon Master Anakin, Mistress Jocasta Nu and Master Saesee Tiin," he said, greeting Jaina's grandfather and the strange demon like looking Jedi Master that had just arrived. Saesee Tiin was once a Jedi Master on the Council. He had worked side by side with Yoda until Chancellor Palpatine had killed him. He was a male Iktochi with pale red, almost sickly pink, skin and a pair of big down pointing horns. Even if his appearance was telling Xander to run, the Jedi Master was growing on him. You could feel the power and kindness in his eyes.

Mistress Jocasta Nu was once the librarian of the Jedi temple on Coruscant. She had been murdered by Darth Vader as an old woman.

The ghosts greeted him as they started the lessons for the night.

Xander asked, "Have you found the reason why I'm a ghost magnet?"

Anakin nodded. "I do believe so. You do come from an alternate reality, one that seems to have different laws of nature. They changed you and adapted you to fit our nature. They also tried to make you powerful by granting you what they sensed was the gift of powerful warriors, Force sensitivity. Like any Jedi or Sith, but part of your original nature still exists, your natural ability to see ghosts and interact with spirits seems to have been improved when they made you Force sensitive."

Xander nodded. "They said that witches, the Slayer, even vampires or demons from my reality would not survive in your reality. Do you believe the reverse to be true?" he asked.

Jocasta Nu answered the question. "The first time you asked that question Anakin said that the answer would have to wait. We have asked any sprits we could about this and yes we do believe that they told you the truth. Making you part of the Force has forever banished you from your home" she finished.

Xander nodded. "I knew that would most likely happen and honestly I have no plans for returning home." He sighed to himself. "Right, let's start the lesson."

The three ghosts started to describe the powers of Jedi long gone and Xander memorized the training methods, trying to learn them himself. Most were just recorded in R3 for later review for when he would become more skilled and to give Luke a copy.

*

Later, on a planet called Susevfi.

With the Enterprise behind them, parked by a river flowing near a forest, they could see many ships all around the river, but the forest itself made it hard to see how many there actually were.

As they left the ship and followed Corran Horn, their Jedi Master, they saw Luke, Leia and many other old and young Jedi Knights sitting around a campfire. Probably around a hundred Jedi or more where gathered here. Strange Force user's Xander had never seen before were standing near Luke. They had armor with mostly animal face masks, but some had other styles on their mask, one even had the face of a crying human. The face mask hid their identity. Only a small number had removed their mask.

Xander smiled. "Alright, Luke is alive." Now they would rock.

Luke nodded. "For most your warning came in time. For some it did not. Kyp Durron and more than nine other students have been murdered in the last week alone. The Duros Helake was among the first. Over seventy Jedi have been murdered in all." he finished.

Xander swallowed as he felt his knees go weak. "So many?" he asked.

Luke nodded. He felt tired. "Yes. Many Jedi trained by me have taken their own students. Our order had been growing stronger than the Republic knew, yet still too weak to openly fight the forces of greed."

Leia nodded. "But we have a bigger problem. Kyp died somewhere near Coruscant. I felt his passing myself. Two days later President Borsk was murdered by a lightsaber. Guards and a young Bothan secretary claimed they saw Kyp do that. Kyp's lightsaber was left behind. The guard claimed he managed to shoot the Jedi in his hand and the secretary confirmed that story."

One of the armored beings interrupted. "Who do you think did it?" he asked.

Leia shook her head. "I do not know, but they suspended my rights as a senator because of my ties with the alleged criminal Kyp Duron. Han and I took the Falcon out as fast as we could," she said.

Luke nodded. "It is as we have foreseen. The numbers of Jedi are too small for us to keep the Republic stable. Saarai-Kaar, I wish that you and your Jensaarair would help our young students further their skill in the Force. Train them in the path of Jensaarair. It is a grim future we face and the Republic does not know about your order yet, although they will have the information eventually. It's only a question of time and a question of what they will do once they learn of you."

The female with the crying girl mask walked up. "I understand, Jedi Master. It will be done. The time has come for Jedi and Jensaarair to stand as brothers and sisters. What the Jedi knew, they have been teaching us. Now it's time for us to teach them."

Jacen frowned. "Uncle?" Seeing Luke's face he corrected himself, "Master Skywalker, what are you going to do?" he asked.

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, looked around. "Master Horn, Master Katarn, Mistress Leia and I are going to infiltrate the Republic. Right now they are arguing over where to lay the blame. We are going to find evidence to clear our name, but also remove the Jedi artifacts from Coruscant." he finished.

Mara Jade interrupted what many younger Jedi were about to say. "Quiet down, even if they succeed it might be too late. According to the reports, over fifteen sectors already have withdrawn their support. The Republic is falling."

The lady called Saarai-Kaar walked forward. "Come with me, young Jedi and Jedi Mistress Jade Skywalker. It's too cold here for your child." she finished, removing the mask, showing her face as that of an old woman with a gentle face.

Xander sighed. "Saarai-Kaar, I am coming a bit later. I have something I have to talk to Master Skywalker about. Master Luke." he said. "Here are the new recordings I made with R3. We have also Samy, a girl that needs training, with us. I have written down all her teacher needs to know. There is also a warning from the ghosts. Choose wisely the heir of the Republic." he finished.

Luke nodded. "I understand. The Jensaarair and Mara Jade can help her with the basics. You should hurry up." he sighed as Xander vanished.

They had all been made look like fools. Blinded by their past experience, they had investigated Borsk Fey'lya, the president of the Republic, and his group of Bothans. They had found much evidence on some minor crimes, but nothing really condemning and they knew he hated the Jedi.

Then this new side came attacking from nowhere. He had his suspicions. A group of aliens, reptilian Yinchorr from the planet Yinchorr, had been seen making friends with many different groups, among them the Bothans.

He had only had little dealings with them, but what he knew of them was that they were Force resistant against mind manipulation. They lived by the expression: Might makes right. Most of this, he had read about during his research into the beginnings of the Clone Wars.

Years before the Clone Wars started or his own father was born, they had tried to destroy the Jedi, but they failed. A small group of Jedi traveled to their home world and took their ruling elders hostage, proving the Jedi had the right of power. The Jedi had found evidence that they had been manipulated by an outsider.

Later the Empire destroyed most of their home world. Only a small number survived, at least according to the history books. His gut feeling was screaming about them. Revenge was part of their philosophy. If they blamed the Jedi for their own destruction, they would seek to destroy the Jedi in turn. They could have manipulated others to turn against the Jedi just to get petty revenge or were they only part of the plot, a minor player themselves?

Luke was not sure, but he would be soon.

*

Later on Susevfi

Saarai-Kaar told the young Jedi of their past. "The meaning of the word Jensaarair is 'follower of the truth' and the meaning of the name Saarai-Kaar is 'keeper of the truth'. We are the protectors of this world and those that live on it. The armor is a sign of our dedication to the truth and the protection of others." She looked at them.

"Our beginning was not that noble. A renegade Jedi fiddling with the teachings of the Sith had created his own order, the Jensaarai. During that time he was still a user of the lightside. The darkside he told us about was wrong and evil, but I do not know if it was the hunger for power or foolishness that made him and his brothers leave to find more secrets of the Force. Secrets they were planning on finding in Dark side tomes," she said sadly.

"All of them turned to the darkside and committed crimes that forced the Jedi to hunt them down. We the Jensaarai did not know what had happened. Our first Saarai-Kaar warned us that the Jedi were evil and would be hunting us down. He asked us to hide while he took care of them, but he failed. The four Jedi killed him and his team in a duel to the death." She looked at them.

"Many years later, with the help of Master Skywalker, we found out that he was planning on transforming the Jensaarai into his darkside soldiers, but thanks to his death we survived and grew stronger in the lightside. Our teachings are different from the Jedi, but they are similar enough that we can go to the advanced lessons in Force skills and Force alchemy, the ability to impute the power of the Force in a non living object. One of the final tests the Jensaarai have is to build an armor that has been made one with the Force. We are going to tech you that and more."

And school started, again. The Jensaarai kept the students busy with learning as the older Jedi had walked in to the jaws of danger and did not want the younger generation to follow. The Saarai-Kaar was more than happy to train them and unlike training children, these Jedi already knew the basics. She only had to improve and show them the new tricks. Once they got the basics of the new skill, they could master it on their own. That way she could teach them even more skills.

It was different from the normal Jedi Praxeum was. The first week the Jensaarai spend trying to figure out what level of skill the different students had. Then came the training itself. Technology and how to merge it with the art of alchemy, the art of empowering a non living object with the Force.

The Jensaarai used it on their armors, but there were pilots among them who had improved the connection between a pilot and his starship with the help of alchemy. It was mostly theoretic, except that they were being showed how to build their own armor.

One of the Force skills they where showed and taught were Ballistakinesis, how to use telekinesis to make deadly projectiles out of tiny objects and using the Force to aim them at the target. Ballistakinesis was an art which Xander quickly mastered as he already had started to learn how to aim using the Force.

Then the more exotic arts:

Force stealth to move without being sensed through the Force or by a human eye. A stronger Force user could over power the Force stealth and if the stealth user came too close to a skilled Force user, he would know that something was nearby, but not where or in what direction. A good sense of hearing and smell could cause a stealth user to be discovered. Lastly anybody actively using a Force Cloak could detect them.

The great advantage with Force stealth was that you could have only part of it active. Anybody would still be able to see you, but detecting where somebody was over a long distance was almost impossible using the Force. This skill had kept the Jensaarai hidden from the Empire and Lord Vader.

Then there was the more advanced skill of Force Cloak which is based on Force Stealth. It demanded that you had mastered the stealth skill before you could even try to learn it. Force Cloak was awesome in that it was just like Stealth, but it would hide the user from droids and computers also. Even better, unlike stealth, which was a power that affected the user only, the Cloak could be used to hide more than just the user. A skilled Jensaarai would cloak a whole star fighter or even a transport from the eyes of sensors and Force users. A group could cloak a whole Star Destroyer, something the Jensaarai had done in the past.

While both Force Cloak and Stealth could hide a Jensaarai from being detected by the Force, a skilled Force user would still detect that something was nearby, but just not where. While the Force Cloak was more powerful and also hid both sound and smell, it drained more energy from the user, so even a master of the Cloak used Stealth if they had to move undetected for a longer period.

Jaina and Jacen had taken to this like a fish to water, learning Stealth and the basics of the Cloak in record time. Second came Lowbacka and Tenel-Ka. Xander was the last as his Stealth was good, but his Cloak was unstable. He needed to train more.

Among the Jedi students were others that had come from other Force using traditions and had joined Luke's Jedi order to learn more of the Force. Kirana-Ti, like Tenel-ka, was trained in the way of the Jedi, but also in the way of the Force the witches of Dathomir used. Her people had been using similar methods of alchemy to make their armor stronger, even if the materials they used were more primitive.

With that revelation the witch decided to teach them to anybody willing to learn more skills of her people. Such as Force Flight, a telekinetic trick, were you used your power to fly a short distance. Most would only be able to fly a short distance of maybe 10 to 200 meters. Others, who had talent in this, could learn to fly a mile before they had to land. She herself was not that strong in this skill, it was only 40 meters before she just could not focus her power of Force flight any longer.  
She also taught those who would listen the art of animal domination. The Skill how to tame animals and monsters was the reason why the Witches of Dathomir could tame rancors to let them ride on their backs.

Force Flight was a skill Xander was eager to learn. It was difficult, but he mastered it quickly and soon he could make short jumps and a glide over a short distance. Each day the distance would grow longer as he learned to keep his focus while flying.

Animal Domination was a trick he already knew and had used it on a pair of Vornskr. It was also a skill Jacen managed to master in record time. He too must somehow have used something similar.

A young Gand Jedi tried to teach others the Gand finds man ceremony. It was a tradition of hunters and finders. Focusing completely on their ability to sense and detect, a findsman would be able to detect or find anyone they were searching for, in theory.

Xander, Jaina, Jacen even Lowbacka were unable to understand his lessons. It might have been because the Gand's was only partly trained as a findsman or perhaps it was simply not possible for others to learn.

As the lessons started, Xander had lot of amusement from the situation around him. The triangle of love between Jacen, Samy and Tenel-ka was hilarious to him.

Tenel-Ka was born in the royal courts of the Hapes cluster, a monarchy ruling 63 nearby solar systems, which are always ruled by the queen mother. Her father was the crown prince and her mother, a powerful warrior witch of Dathomir, was by marriage the future queen mother.

Dathomir witches were stronger and taller than the average human female. Until recently the only thing a man could be on Dathomir was a slave, protected by a witch from the monsters that walked the planet. The Hapans had selectively bred themselves to be beautiful and Tenel-ka was a perfect mix of both cultures. She had strength, power, was beautiful and had the intelligence to back it all up as well.

Samy was a Zeltron. A race notorious Hedonistic with empathic powers and pheromone enhanced beauty. She came from a society were monogamous relationships were frowned up on as boring.

It was not a war. It was a slaughter house and Jacen was the only victim. The two girls soon became friends, as Tenel-ka learned about Samy's Force visions. Who was she to go against the wisdom of the Force?

Samy on the other hand showed Tenel-Ka her family picture, knowing that some of the witches of Dathomir had more than one husband or wife, the idea had intrigued her. Besides, as a future Queen mother, she would need a strong husband just to keep himself alive. Hapans practiced assassination within the family.

Her paternal grandmother was a scary person that had killed one of her own sons because he was incompetent. It might even be better if she never married. Many of the Queen mother's never had married the man they loved, just to keep them safe.

As long as she got pregnant at least once, everyone was happy. She was sure in time, with Samy's blessing, Jacen would and could help her with that.

Was it wrong to enjoy the carnage so much? Xander did not think so, as he, Jaina and Lowbacka watched the soap opera that was Jacen's life. Letting Samy come onboard was his smartest idea ever.

Jacen was stuck between being fearful or happy about the whole thing. Now he knew why Luke stayed away from Zeltron. They were just too much and what was worst, you were unable to even stay angry with them.

**15. 5-1**

Note: A box of virtual cookies goes to Inachis. Tx for your work.

5-1

Later

The Saarai-Kaar was pleased with her decision to keep the young ones away from distracting news, especially since the distracting news was bad. It was time for them to start building their armor and they did not need any distractions.

*

In the workshop

"So what do you think, Jaina, gang?" Xander asked, holding up a holo picture of himself with armor.

They all gathered around him as he held up the holo. He had a lot of help in designing and creating it, from the Jensaarai armor crafter. Sure the last part, the actual alchemy, he would have to do himself and he would also have to learn the art of armor crafting to keep his armor working.

There were two pictures and Xander switched between them. The first was one of him in a bodysuit that looked like a body glove made out of flexible armor, heavier than the normal jump suits, but within the definition of a light armor. It was covered in spun cortosis fiber, a mineral that protected against lightsabers.

The armor itself was black with yellow inside of the arms, no helmet, just a simple cloak with a hood. While the front side was night black, the further back you came, the more green it became. The side of the body suit was dark-green, almost black, while the backside ranged from soft green to dark green.

Jacen asked, "Why that color combination?"

Xander shrugged. "Mostly because I enjoy having green yellow eyes now, but also because in nature, if you're going to hide, a combination of green and black is best. Pure black or plain green and you are easier to see," he said.

"Why no helmet?" Jaina asked leadingly. The two of them had worked together and she knew exactly what Xander would do.

Xander smiled. "But my dear, I do have one." He activated the second picture. "That is just a basic armor, a sealed black body glove. With the helmet on I can survive in vacuum and if things get tough, I can put the rest on," he explained.

Now they saw a computer generated image of him in the same body suit, but over it he had dark yellow armored gauntlets, which protected the whole under arm. The chest piece was yellow green and made out of a hard material that protected his back and front, but not the shoulders. Shoulder pads of the same material took care of that, without limiting his movement. He also had groin armor to protect against low aimed attacks and a dark green helmet with a transparent yellow visor similar to what Mandalorians used.

"The material in the outer plates is plastoid, just like the storm troopers," he said. "The helmet, when sealed to the bodysuit, gives me a 25 minutes survival time in space, if I have the whole armor on, its 2 hours."

"The cloak can also be used as armor," Xander explained. "It's not as good as the real armor, it has almost no protection against bullets or blaster bolts, but it's made out of fire resistant material with great protection abilities against heat. One side lets heat through, the other one reflects it," he continued.

The material was used by fire fighters, because one side of the armor let body heat through and the other side reflected it.

They could stay cool while working in the center of a hot fire storm. Using it as a cloak was an interesting idea. You could use the outside if you were in a cold climate.

"Alright, it's not the best material for heat reflection, but it is soft and flexible." Xander remarked further about the cloak.

Jacen nodded as he looked at his own armor and sighed. It was boring, a simple black and red flexible armor with a sealed helmet that looked disturbingly like a storm troopers, but with bigger eyepieces. Simple, but yet useful.

Jaina looked at Xander's armor. It was unique, not bad and definitive Xander. Her armor was less glorious, just a black body piece made of the same flexible armor material with spun cortosis fiber. It had a helmet, which looked like something a roman soldier would have used (not that she knew anything about the Romans,) except it had a visor that protected her face and the build in hood inside of the helmet gave her whole head protection. Thin plastoid gauntlets protected her hands. She suspected that Xander had build weapons or tools in his. She had only a climbing rope in hers. Both Xander and she had macro binoculars and a radio-comlink installed in the helmet.

Lowbacka growled out as he showed them his picture. Most Wookiees disliked the use of armor, but it was not completely unknown for a Wookiee to don armor. Lowbacka's armor mirrored that fact. Simple yet functional plates protected the vital areas of his body and an open helmet, with a visor, his head. If he needed to enter space, he would use a spacesuit.

Tenel-Ka's armor was looking like an armor shell that was stolen from a crab, pale red in color with a black body piece made of the same material that the rest had used. The helmet was in the same crab like shape and pale red with a simple visor that she could activate if needed. Like the others, her hands and head were sealed and could handle vacuum for a short time. She had put extra armor on her right arm just in case. After all, she did not want to lose that arm too.

The Jensaarai armor crafter nodded at the Jedi. There were only fifteen Jedi that wanted to make a full armor. Most decided for a simple helmet or protective piece. That was just wrong, like running around nude.

But these four, they where special. Jaina's and Xander's armor were exclusive in their design. The two had taken to designing them like a fish to water. In fact, Xander's armor was even aquatic adapted.

No surprise there as the Armor crafter had learned the boy had gills.

They worked well together and understood technology fast.

Jacen on the other hand did not have the instinctive understanding of technology that his sister and friend had, but he did understand his limits and asked for help when he needed it. The armor crafter liked that.

The Wookiee, like most of his species, was proud, dressing up in complete armor felt wrong for the hairy youth.

Then Tenel-ka created a simple looking armor that was high tech. She also had lacked the deeper instinctive understanding of tech, but like Jacen, she had nothing against asking for help.

Finally the armor was build, now they had to put it together, infusing the Force into the material and changing it into something that could repair itself if damaged. After a long month of theory and tests, they now had their armor. All they needed to do was to infuse it with alchemy.

A long draining process of meditation, just like building a lightsaber, it took a month or more with limited time for sleeping or eating and the more complicated the armor was, the longer the process took.

One by one they vanished inside the armor room.

On the roof a slow drum beat started to play to help them enter the trance.

**16. 5-2**

Note: As in each chapter before we have to thank Inachis again. She really helps a lot.

5-2

Weeks later

Lowbacka was the first to come out, but his armor was the lightest and so the easiest to infuse. Then only a day after Lowbacka, Jacen came out as he had the second easiest armor to infuse. He was followed by Tenel-ka five days later. Her armor was just as simple as Jacen's, but her powers in the Force were weaker.

It took almost a month before Xander returned from his room. The armor fitted perfectly, glistering in the light of the room, and he looked majestic as he walked out.

Only hours later Jaina joined them, the electronics had been difficult to infuse without destroying them, but she had done it. Like a gladiator queen from a time lost long, she glided over to Xander and hugged him. Finally they were done and from the feelings they had gotten from the Force, it was just in the nick of time.

Saarai-Kaar had arrived. "All of you have done well. The lightsaber and your own master's words proved in the eyes of the Jedi that you are Jedi Knights. The armor mastery and the skill needed to make it one with the Force is the sign of a Jensaarai protector." She bowed her head. "Students of the path of the Jedi, I hereby grant you all honorary status as Jensaarai. If you ever need to hide, our home will be open to you," she said.

Then she puts on her face mask.

"As the Saarai-Kaar I have to inform you of the status of the New Republic. The Hapes system along with the Mon-Calamari has withdrawn their support in protest of the Republic's actions and has declared themselves independent. Luke Skywalker is currently missing in action. We know he is alive, but he has vanished. Leia Organa Solo and her husband Han Solo are currently in hiding on Mon Calamari."

Seeing the shocked faces of the youths, she continued. "They managed to find the evidence and the murderer, but that did not stop the Anti-Jedi party from dragging up the past mistakes of both Jedi and other Force users. They declared the Jedi order to be a criminal organization. "

A scared gasp was heard from Jaina. It was like the return of the Empire all over again.

Jacen was flabbergasted. "What? How could that happen?"

Saarai-Kaar sighed. "The Anti-Jedi group is sponsored by many races that disliked the Jedi and was well prepared. They have chosen their representatives carefully. The Senate is currently arguing worse than ever. Hapes and Mon Calamari were not the only systems that removed themselves, nor will they be the last." She shook her head. "The Hutt fractions are arguing that it would be good for the economy to legalize slavery in limited form. The worst is that I believe they might succeed." She studied their faces. "Dark forces are at the center of this. Not as strong as Vader or the Emperor, but strong and able enough to create chaos and destruction instead."

Xander frowned. "Like children in a school yard. What they cannot have, they destroy." He tightens his armored fist. "That does it. Just like my freaking vision. The Republic is dead," he said.

Leaning on the wall he could see Jaina, Samy and Jacen all cry. Quickly he hugged Jaina and with a wave of his hand Jacen and Samy found themselves pushed together.

The stoical Tenel-Ka did not cry, not when somebody other than her most trusted friends could see her.

Jacen dried his tears. "I'm going to find Uncle Luke. What about you guys?"

Samy nodded. "I'm joining you Jacen," she said simply.

Xander pondered the question. "I think it's time I visit a Hutt. He enslaved humans from my home world. I believe he will tell me where they are or he will become a fried Hutt," he simply said.

Now there was no risk that his actions could create war between the Republic and the Hutt sector, which gave him the freedom to act.

Jaina nodded. "I'm joining you," she said. "But first we are going to talk to mom and dad." Her face said it all.

Tenel-ka looked sad. "I have to go home or the fleet will come for me again." she sighed. "I'm going to prepare the Hapes cluster for you. Jacen, Samy, join me, the two of you can find a ship on Hapes." She smiled. "No, do not protest. Luke is my friend also. As crown princess my powers are limited. Dangerous adventures are out, but I can help my friends."  
Lowbacka roared out his agreement. He needed to talk to Uncle Chewbacca.

Jaina frowned. "What about Anakin?"

Xander nodded. "We will ask him. Mara, if she's smart, will stay and protect Ben, but she might have a clue where Luke is."  
"Anakin is four years younger than you, correct?" he asked the twins. Jaina and Jacen nodded. Jaina was seventeen, just month short of eighteen now. Having a moody 14 year old with them would not be fun.

He frowned, "Do you know the status of Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn?" he asked the Saarai-Kaar. She blinked in surprise: the boy had a voice of command. "Corran Horn and his wife escaped and were last seen on the Errant Venture. Kyle saved his partner Jan Ors, when Republic commandos were holding her jailed as bait to captured him. He apparently disagreed with their actions, they died, and Kyle and Jan are currently on the run."

Xander sighed. "The only reason Kyle would do something like that was if he had a good reason to fear for Jan's life."

The door opened as Mara Jade walked inside. "They were torturing her. Kyle contacted us fifteen minutes ago." She looked at Xander. "And you are right, I can give Jacen navigational info to where Luke is and I'm going to hide here with the Jensaarai. My Ben's life is worth too much for me to risk him." Her face turned soft and happy for a moment as the child in her arms tried to eat her hair.

Xander nodded. "Alright, first the Hapes cluster, then the fishy planet and then Hutt space." He nodded while stretching his body. "I'm going to see that the Enterprise is ready and then I'm going to find somebody and test my lightsaber skills in a friendly way. I need to know that I can fight in this armor." he finished.

The Saarai-Kaar nodded. "Just return here, I will have some of my best ready for you. They will know what knowledge you are seeking and they will test you." She looked at the others.

"You all should join him in this. A short, but hard training fight is something that will teach you how to move in your armor." They could not see it, but inside the face plate she was smiling. "Xander, I'm going to send some of my ship crew over with you. They can help you get the Enterprise ready."

Xander powdered slightly. "Thank you Saarai-Kaar. I must hurry," he said as he moved out, the cloak flying behind him as he vanished outside the building.

Jaina looked at Jacen. "Then we have to ask Anakin, if he wants to stay here and learn more, or join us. And which one of us he wants to join."

Jacen nodded.

Mara leaned back as she sat down beside the Zeltron girl. She thought them a wonderful race of near-humans and for some reason they scared her husband silly.

"Hi." she said as the girl leaned over to look at the baby.

**17. 5-3**

Note1: As you all have noticed before Inachis has helped a lot to make the read of this story much easier so tx to you again. (I hope you don't get bored hearing it chapter for chapter *g*)

Note2: For all who have read this story before on XanderZone. This chapter was originally split into the parts 5-3 to 5-5, but because I was bored at work to today I looked of all three and put them together.

5-3

Later, near the Enterprise.

"We have come to you to help you train a bit" a Jensaarai with a catlike mask said.

Xander nodded: "Good, should I hold back?" he grinned.

A Jensaarai with a bird mask snorted. "You'd be a fool if you do." There was a reason they wore armor.

With a snip and a hiss the lightsabers were activated. Swinging around with his lightsaber, in double-bladed configuration, Xander attacked.

The Jensaarai was surprised at the speed the youth had and was unable to parry. A hissing sound was heard as the cortosis fiber in his armor made the lightsaber part of Xander's double-bladed weapon disconnect. A short burned cut appeared in the armor of the Jensaarai before he could react. The lightdagger part of Xander's weapon was aimed at the open cut in the Jensaarai's armor.

The others applauded. "Apparently it would be foolish of us to hold back," one said menacingly.

"O shit," was all Xander could say as they attacked.

He danced around, parried as fast as he could, earning some moving space before he disconnected the blades. With lightdagger in one hand and lightsaber in the other, he shifted from the double-bladed style into a free form of Jar'Kai, the double bladed lightsaber form.

Of course his form had mixes of other styles in them. He often began with a mix of Niman and Shien mostly as he held his lightdagger blade in a reverse grip, while he held his Saber in a normal grip. The Niman form was described as the Way of the Rancor. It had no real weaknesses, nor had it any real strengths.

He knew that he often switched from a mix of Niman and Shien to Soresu and Shien. Soresu was also called the way of the mynoc. It was designed to defend against multiple long range attacks, but combine it with Niman or Shien and you would get a dangerous combination, if you managed it.

Xander did manage it. He wasn't a master, but he knew a bit from all 7 forms of official lightsaber combat. He was worthless in Makashi, a style Count Dooku had been a master of, which was a battle form good against other lightsabers, but bad against blasters.

He also knew the double-bladed style and Jar'Kai, the twin blade form. It was Jar'Kai he was fast gaining master-level skill in and he was also not bad in the double-bladed style. The ghosts had showed him and together with Kyle and Jaina they had trained.

Grinning, he parried as the attackers came closer. Whirling like a hurricane, he cut himself a path out. Only the skill, experience and armor of the attackers stopped them from loosing arms and legs to his whirling blades.

Xander frowned as his cloak was cut in half, but that was fine, he had spares. "Alright, let's really try out the armor." he said and opening himself up to the Force, he dived towards them using Force flight. The four Jensaarai dived for cover before striking back with Force pushes and Ballistakinesis, sending a rain of deadly missiles towards him.

It would not be easy to test this hot-headed Jedi and from above came a hyena like laughter as mist suddenly began rising from the lake, hiding them all and leaving only the lightsabers to be seen in the thick fog.

"Now, this is a trick which was worth learning." Xander voice was heard from somewhere.

The Jensaarai nodded, definitive more work than expected.

*

Later in space towards Hapes space

Jacen starred at him.

Xander frowned back. "What?"

Jacen shook his head. "You put two of them in the hospital with multiple broken bones," he said.

Xander flinched at that. "Um, I might have overestimated their skill a little."

Jaina piped in. "Or our training together has made you more skilled in pure lightsaber combat than they expected."

Turning to Jacen, she said, "Did you notice that the people testing us let us do gymnastic movements first, then combat, and they stopped us the moment it looked like we were going to go wild?"

Lowbacka nodded.

Jacen agreed. "Yes, but why test his skill so much?"

Xander answered the question. "It was because I took command and she knew I talk to ghosts. Saarai-Kaar wanted to know my real skill in combat."

The he grinned. "Besides, I took great care not to hurt or maim them permanently. The broken bones were their own mistakes, they tripped." It was his mist trick that had given him the victory.

With his lightsabers turned off, he had attacked, disarming one of the Jensaarai with his fist before going into lightblade combat again. Compared to Luke, these guys weren't that good. On the other hand, the four guys he had fought weren't the best fighters they had, which only showed how much they had underestimated him.

*

A day later

Finally they entered the Hapes cluster, where a friendly battle dragon was meeting them, threatening to shoot them to dust if they wanted to enter Hapes space. After Tenel-Ka started giving them commands to back down, they were escorted instead.

Apparently the defection of Hapes had not been welcomed in the Republic. They were threatening with war and Hapes had closed their borders and isolated themselves again.

Xander and Jaina stayed silent and in armor as they escorted the royal princess home. Beside them walked Jacen, unarmored and holding a nervous looking Samy by the hand. Anakin was trying not to stare as he followed them with Lowbacka at his side. Should there be a fight, it would be five young Jedi against hundreds of troopers.

For some reason Xander wasn't afraid or nervous, even when confronted by the idea of combat breaking out with the hundreds of self assured troops looking down on them from everywhere.

Not feeling fearful himself, he could only think of one thing. Good that one group feels overconfident. He just hoped it wasn't he that was overconfident.

The old Queen mother greeted them as well as the new Queen Mother (Tenel-Ka's mother). There wasn't much love lost between the two, but they did respect each other and they both shared a love for Tenel-Ka.

Teneiel-Djo was beautiful, but among the Hapes, a people bred for beauty, she looked common or even bulky, as she was a warrior witch. Her skill of finding traitors was slowly becoming a legend among the Hapes, as was her skill in killing anyone who was endangering her family.

Yet it was the old queen mother, who represented the real danger and she could feel danger to Tenel-ka, from someone that did not wish for her to return, from nearby.

Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Anakin bowed to the two women.

Xander bowed slowly. He bowed first to the throne and then to Tenel-Ka. Looking at her, he said to Tenel-Ka, "Lady Tenel-Ka, do you wish to be alone with your family or do you wish us, as your friends, to remain in your company for a while?" He wasn't looking at her, but rather at the guards and the noble men. His eyes were glittering in yellow and green with a dangerous promise of death and destruction to any who threatened his friends.

Jacen frowned as he stretched out his feelings. He too could feel the hatred someone was aiming at Tenel-Ka. He was about to speak when Jaina stopped him.

Jacen might keep up with Xander in combat, but could not defeat him unless he trained really hard. She could defeat Xander about 1 in 3 times. In pure Force power they were about the same in strength and level of skill, but Xander's level of "I'm going to rip out your heart and eat it for fun" for looking dangerous was something different altogether.

The nobles gasped and shivered as his eyes passed them by.

Tenel-Ka smiled as she too noticed the danger. "Thank you my friend Jedi Knight Xander Harris. I do believe it would be nice if you stayed while the royal engineers refresh the Enterprise." He bowed and moved to stand behind her with his helmet on again as her body guard. Lowbacka soon followed. Xander's hands moved in signals unseen by the watchers, but caught by the gang.

Jacen and Jaina moved to Tenel-Ka's side, followed by Anakin and Samy. Seeing Xander's signal, they chose the side that indicated they were friends and followers of the lady. Tenel-Ka quickly pushed Jacen and Samy to the other side, which meant she was romantically interested in both and they had her personal protection.

The queen and her mother smiled. The boy, in old Republic tradition, declared himself to be her body guard and so did the Wookiee. She knew him, Lowbacka or something, but the boy was a newcomer and not a Skywalker, that was for sure. It also interested her that her daughter was still trying to capture the Organa Solo boy, a pure Skywalker, as well as a Zeltron girl.

It would be an interesting night.

*

Later the same night

Xander looked at Tenel-Ka and her mother as they talked about the situation. Jacen, Jaina, and the rest had been sent to bed, he as a body-guard was ignored.

The break with the Republic had created a difficult situation in the court, with plenty of power games and assassinations, a joy fun place to live in.

As Tenel-Ka was about to stand and leave for her room, her father the Crown Prince Isolder turned to talk to him. "How long are you planning on staying as her body guard?" he asked.

Xander looked at him directly. "I'm actually planning on asking Jacen and Samy to remain here. Master Skywalker is a Jedi master and he can handle himself. Especially if I ask Anakin to team up with his mom and dad and go after him."

Prince Isolder nodded. "And what are your plans?"

Xander sighed. "I come from a lost world called Earth. A Hutt used an artifact that I personally destroyed to transport us across the galaxy. A million Earth humans were enslaved because of that Hutt. I plan on freeing them."

Prince Isolder frowned, "Just like that?"

Xander nodded with a smile that sent shivers up the prince's spine. "Just like that." For some reason Isolder suspected that many Hutts would soon find themselves on the wrong end of a lightsaber. Whoever this young man was, he made him more nervous than the nightwitches of Dathomir had managed.

"Just see that the court of Hapes knows that your daughter is under my protection, just like that." Xander said before vanishing in the air.

Tenel-Ka giggled as she walked out of the room. "Are you crazy?" she said as the air thickened and Xander was standing behind her again. "Probably, but it will keep them on their toes and the guards and the spy will know to fear me," he whispered. "If they keep their attention on me, it'll be too late when they learn that Jacen and you are just as dangerous. Besides, if you can hire a team of Jensaarai…" he said before once again vanishing in the air, using the Force cloak.  
Tenel-Ka smiled, wondering where Xander was going.

*

Later

Crown Prince Isolder sighed. "What do you think of that new bodyguard our daughter has found?" They were alone in the room for a little private time. The guards were on standby outside.

Teneiel-Djo frowned. "I think he wanted to talk to us," she said, gripping her lightsaber. She was not a true Jedi, but over the years she had learned a trick or two.

The air shivered as Xander's armored body suddenly stood near them. "You are correct. I do wish to talk to you," he said, slowly removing his helm.

Isolder was surprised. He had expected something more. In the throne room the boy had looked intimidating, now he looked like an 18 year old with too much on his shoulders. "Breaking into the royal room is a crime," he noted.

Xander snorted at that. "Wouldn't be the first law I have broken to protect my friends." He leaned forward. "Your daughter is ONE of my friends, as are Jacen, Samy, Anakin, Jaina and Lowbacka. They are all my friends and I have killed, even betrayed friends and allies, to save the lives of the very same friends I betrayed." he said, looking at the prince.

Isolder was a brave man, who risked his life hunting and infiltrating pirate and criminal organizations, and he showed not a sign of fear in his eyes.

Teneiel-Djo smiled. "Sounds good, but why are you here?"

Xander nodded to her. "I have some work to do. The lives of other friend's are in danger and those are lives that I need to save. Tenel-Ka's life is in danger, if she stays here or if she leaves this place. Most of the danger she faces will on the other hand come from this place. Making it a snake's nest with a poisonous beast inside." He looked at the sofa before shrugging and sitting down.

Isolder smiled. "Please, why don't you sit down?"

Xander smirked. "Already did, thank you. Now, I'm asking Jacen and Samy to look after Tenel-Ka. But Samy needs somebody to watch her back as well." His eyes narrowed.

"It would be good, if the court knew that fearing me is a good policy for a long life. I'm sure the two of you could, with Jacen and Tenel-Ka, help spread some rumors."

Isolder nodded. "That could work, but they would just work around you," he said.

Xander snorted again. "Jacen and Tenel-Ka are just as good as I am. He and she on the other hand don't look dangerous."  
Teneiel-Djo understood the plan then. "They will strike after you have left then, ignoring the harmless looking Jacen." She nodded. "The faster they make a mistake, the less chance that my daughter may relax and make a mistake of her own."

She nodded again. "I'll see to it. By morning Hapes will fear you" she said, then blinked as she felt his presents vanish. "Do that in the throne room and they are sure to fear you." she said to the empty air. He was still in the room, waiting for the door to open. She smiled; of course he needed somebody to open the door. She pushed the button to summon a servant.  
As the butler entered, Xander left.

*

A Short time later in Jacen's room

"Don't scream." Xander said, holding a hand over Jacen's mouth while leaning over him. Not screaming wasn't an easy thing to do when face to face with Xander's helmet.

"You asshole," Jacen whispered.

Xander tried not to laugh. "Sorry, couldn't help myself there. Listen, you and Samy…"

"Me?" Samy asked as she popped up her red head from somewhere beside Jacen where she had been sleeping.

Xander shrugged. "Like I said, you and Samy are going to stay here." He waved his hand to silence Jacen. "Let me explain. Anakin, your mom and your dad can and will save Luke, Leia is Luke's twin after all."

Jacen nodded; that was true.

Xander nodded back. "Good. I have it arranged so that by tomorrow the court is going to fear me and will be ignoring you and Samy and you better keep looking harmless and nice too Jacen. Because the moment the others and I are gone, they are going to try something against Tenel-Ka. You have to be there and watch her and Samy's back. I know Tenel-ka can handle herself, but backup is always welcome."

Jacen nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I better keep up teaching Samy what I can." He blinked as he felt Xander move away. Unseen by his eyes he could feel Xander's presence moving further and further away.

To Samy, who hadn't learned the trick yet, it was like Xander had suddenly vanished. "Incredible" she said. Jacen nodded. "It's a good trick, but any Force user feels that something is nearby, just not where it is, and you are completely unable to attack." he said, cloaking both of them to make sure nobody was listening.

Samy did not even notice that for a moment she was invisible.

*

Next evening

The ball room was filled with people wishing Tenel-Ka well as the welcoming party kept going. Her cousin, two times removed, Jalicie-Leda had a perfect face, long blond hair and a body most photo models would kill for. She also had a personality that would make a Hutt run and hide. "So I heard you had a mystical body guard, where is he now?" she said mockingly.

Tenel-Ka snapped her fingers and suddenly Xander stood face to face with her blond cousin, his cloak waving in a wind that affected only him.

Xander growled, "You called." he said, sounding like Lurch from the Addams family would if he had a Hyena stuck in his gut.

Jalicie-Leda squealed in terror as she backed away as fast as her legs could carry her.

Slowly, almost in slow-motion, Xander turned. Then faster, then before most of the untrained noble men could move, he was standing next to the blond Jalicie-Leda.

"Do you wish for me to take care of her?" Nobody doubted that if he did take care of her, she would never be seen again.  
Tenel-Ka smiled. "Not right now, Xander." she said and snapped her fingers again. With a deep unhappy sound from somewhere inside of him, he vanished into thin air.

The room was silent.

Xander returned to visibility, hiding behind a pillar and eating some food he had stolen. He had the visor open on his helmet. Force cloak was difficult to maintain, so right now he was using only Force stealth, meaning that no human eye could see him, only cameras or the Force.

"Having fun?" Jaina asked as she snuggled up with him under Force stealth.

Xander cloaked them both. "Not really, but by the time I'm done, they are so going to underestimate your brother." he said, knowing that while cloaked they were invisible and soundless.

She nodded. "I have to go or Anakin will do something stupid like actually impress them with his skills," she said sighing. Anakin was the power house in their family.

Jacen and she were powerful, but Anakin was just as powerful with a natural understanding of both the Force and anything technological. What took weeks for them to learn, Anakin did in mere hours. He had already started to build his own Jensaarai armor from what he managed to learn.

It was a long party. More than once Xander had to make a sudden appearance, but they had timed things well. Half the time he suddenly appeared, it had been just an illusion Tenel-ka created and the whispered rumors that flew around were amusing in themselves.

According to the rumors he was either:

1. An experiment created by the Emperor.

2. A Sith lord returned from the grave.

3. An evil bounty hunter trained in the way of the Mandalorians and as a Dark Jedi.

4. A monster hunter from an alternate dimension, which had been trained as a Jedi.

The last rumor confused him. How the hell did they know that? He shrugged as he sneaked up to the queen. Using Force stealth he whispered to her. "We might have problem. Someone might have inside information about me that ONLY a handful of beings outside of Jedi Masters know."

She blinked. "What kind of information?" she asked.

Xander looked worried. "They know. I have no idea how, but they know I am a monster hunter from a alternate dimension." He shrugged. "Only Master Skywalker and a small number of trusted people in the Republic know that."  
He wondered where the information had come from.

Teneiel-Djo blinked. She and her mother in law had made up that rumor just for fun. "Me and my mother in law decided to let the rumor spread just to keep the correct person on their toes" she said. Everything was true, not one lie in the sentence.

But if she was correct Xander would now be worried about what she knew.

Xander nodded "Oh. Well, that's good then I think." he said as he vanished. He was a bit nervous, who would have known that the Queen mother managed to spy on Luke Skywalker or did Tenel-Ka inform her? No, not likely.

Teneiel-Djo sneaked over to Isolder to whisper in his ear. His eyes lighted up in surprise. Eneiel-Djo then sneaked up to her beloved (as she would love to see her dead) mother-in-law. "The alternate reality rumor we made up is true. He panicked, believing someone has inside information on the Jedi Masters. I let him believe that it was us."

The old queen nodded smiling. That would make the young Jedi nervous, after all, if they knew that, who knows what more they would know.

It was a perfect plan to create respect and fear. Sadly for them, anybody living on the Hellmouth either become ignorant or lost the ability to become nervous just because something was planning to kill you or knew your secrets.

Xander was nervous about five seconds and then his Sunnydale reflex took over. There was nothing he could do about it and it wasn't a direct enemy who was planning to kill him. Perhaps his secret could hurt him, but if it did, that would be a future problem. He would have to warn Luke about the spy, though.

*

Four days later

With the Enterprise fixed up, and new parts installed to update the old military class sensors, new communication equipment and an upgrade to the computer to military standard, everything was good to go. Xander had also had a new acceleration compensator that could handle more speed and maneuverability installed. That had been expensive, but thanks to the royal engineers and the bounty he got from the pirates, he could afford it easily. Especially with the 60 % price cut the royal family gave him.

They had also helped him improve the ships maneuverability by installing extra thrusters. Now his ship had a slightly better maneuverability then a TIE fighter and even better maneuverability then the Millennium Falcon.

He now had type 2.1 maneuverability, in theory at least, but with great difficulty he could boost the maneuverability up to a type 4. Something he was planning to do and the reason why he got the new compensators in the first place.

Just as Jaina could improve her X-wing to type 7 maneuver ability, but also with some difficulty as she would have to change the compensators to more powerful ones as well, which would mean removing either cargo space or a weapon.  
He had to sacrifice cargo space, but as he had rebuilt her, he had prepared for that with plenty of extra room just for further rebuilding in the future and the Falcon was still faster than he was. With Solo's brand new class 9 engine, his class 7 was nothing.

Most civilian ships had engines between classes 1 – 4, so in speed he was good with a class 7, with a cruising speed of 70 mglt and a max of 280 Mglt at least, compared to a standard Ghtroc Class 3 engines cruising speed of 30 mglt and max speed of 120 mglt. His ship has doubled her maneuverability when compared to that of a standard ship.

But the thing was, the Falcon moved with a cruising speed of 100 with a class 9 engine. Han, the bastard, had modified his class 9 instead of putting in a more expensive engine. So they moved with the speed of a class 10. The cost of doing that was obvious. The ship needed more repairs and mishaps happened more often.

Before Han got his class 9, he was using a Class 4 modified to the power of a class 8. That was sheer madness. Just hearing the stories sent shivers down his neck. The Falcon must have had constant engine problems.

"What is it?" Jaina said as she watched him study the Enterprise carefully.

Xander frowned. "The falcon is still faster." he whined. Lowbacka growled in surprise.

Anakin started. "Huh, what?"

Xander nodded "Sure my ship can drive circles around your father's ship, but it's still faster than mine."

Lowbacka nodded, this was serious; Chewbacca never did shut up about how good his ship was.

Anakin looked thoughtful. "I think if we modify the engine boost, we could in theory get a 110 mglt cruising speed out of them."

Jaina sighed, "Boys."

*

Xander stared at Anakin. "Are you crazy? That's four classes more than I currently have."

Anakin nodded. "Dad did it before, with the Falcon, and he is trying to boost the new class 9 up to a class 11."

Xander and Lowbacka nodded as they hummed together at that.

Jaina sighed in exasperation. "Boys, hello, hello? Hmm, did you say class 11?" She frowned as she picked up her calculator, punching the numbers. "It could work, but it would raise the risk for the Enterprise, mishaps and engine malfunctions will be more likely."

Xander nodded. "Yeah, it'd take time too."

Anakin interrupted. "But it's not as if we'd have to install a new ion engine. So, a lot of the work can be done from the inside." he reminded them. Lowbacka nodded; at least it would give them something to do during the journey.

The three tech interested Jedi nodded. "We have to start small, to find her limits." Anakin said. Lowbacka nodded as he growled out, "We could get some bigger power couplings at Mon Calamari."

Xander nodded. "And we have to find one more starfighter. My hangar is only half full."

All of them took a deep breath as in shocked terror.

Lowbacka growled at that, he was more of an engineer than a pilot.

Anakin frowned. "I always liked the A-wing. Tiny, fast, deadly and as the name said, it's an Anakin-wing, so what's not to like?"

Xander nodded. "Then let's go." It would be a long journey from Hapes to the Mon Calamari home world.

The Hapes cluster lies near the inner rim of the galaxy while Dac lies on the outer rim and to make things worse, he had to either use the small hyper route or the fast way across the inner rim trade route and then to the Perlemian trade route straight to Dac. "I need a faster hyper drive. The Falcon has a Class ½ and I have only a class 1," he sighed.

The others snickered at him.

Jaina sighed. "Don't worry Xander. I think we could use the Duros side step. Eight hours the wrong way and we come right to the Ithorian side Route and it will take us to the expansion region and the Perlemian trade route faster than on the normal way. I did some calculations last night."

Xander smiled. "You are a treasure."

The teens walked into their ship and lifted off.

It would still take twelve days of journey, but it was much better that the calculated 40 days. That much time was saved going eight hours the wrong way. Hyperspace travel is mostly straight, like the flight of a bullet. Near suns and big physical object the ship has to enter normal space and fly or jump around them. Hyper-routes or hyper-roads were areas in space that had no objects standing in their path. Most routes were short, rarely going more than 100 light years before the pilot had to shift to a new route. But on routes like the Duros trade route, the Perlemian and the Correlian Trade route you could fly from the core worlds to the outer rim in one jump and the Ithorian side route circled the galaxy, 40 % of the way starting in on the inner rim and passing both the Perlemian and Correlian trade route and ending in the expansion region.

*

Seven days later outside the Gelgelar free port.

They had stopped to get news and stretch their legs a bit. Sitting, working with the engines and just being cooped up that long made all of them crazy and one of them had the power to remove human arms with pure physical strength. They all had lightsabers and were teenagers. So a stopover really was a matter of life and death.

Lowbacka growled in happiness as he walked out to the swampy planet. Being cooped up so long made humans a bit crazy. They all had started to look nervously at him and they like him had lightsabers. Humans are a funny species; he understood why they made such good friends. You would never be bored with humans around.

*

In the training area where once Kyle had trained them, the teens were standing around 19 wax cylinders. Each had a tiny steel ball bearing on the top.

Jaina explained. "This is a lightsaber control exercise Kyle had us do, at the first cadence. The goal is to burn away the steel balls without hurting the wax cylinder. All in one motion, once you start moving you have to keep moving, swinging until the last ball is burned away or you hurt a wax cylinder. It is said that it is impossible for a Dark Jedi to master this exercise," she said, nodding to Xander.

He walked in the circle. Around him, in different lengths and in random locations, were the 19 cylinders. The blast helm on his head stopped him from using his eyes. Not that he needed them with the Force as his ally. Click Hiss, Hiss. Both light-blades were active. Taking a deep breath he focused and let his fear and anger leave his body as he started to move.  
With a dancing motion, never stopping, he moved round and round then just as suddenly as he started to move, he stopped. Anakin swallowed as he moved in. "All of them" he said in awe, gripping the lightsaber he had found together with Tionne. Luke said that it was Ben Kenobi's blade.

Xander nodded, wiping sweat from his forehead. "It's harder than you think and the best part is that these exercises get much harder at the next step. Second cadence involves 72 cylinders and 2000 ball bearings, with the ball bearings sometimes on the floor and at other times on a cylinder."

Anakin frowned. "What good is this exercise?"

Jaina answered him. "Control, it gives improved ability to use your own lightsaber and to focus yourself. It also makes it easier to learn the harder moves we use during combat."

Xander nodded. "It's a training method that's impossible to use if you're angry. So it helps you in that way also."

Lowbacka nodded. He did have an anger problem and the way they moved during the exercise looked incredible, more like dancing than fighting. They nodded as Jaina and Xander put up a training field with wax cylinders for each of them. Jaina and Xander walked over to a different area where their group of 72 cylinders was already standing.

*

A tired gang returned 26 hours later to the Enterprise.

Anakin was good. He had managed 10 ball bearings in the end. They all said so. Lowbacka got 11, but he had more training then Anakin.

As they lifted off, Anakin leaned over to Xander, who was piloting the ship "Do you know any more exercises like that?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "Only the remote training can be done inside a ship." he frowned. "But you could do the bottle exercise. It's telekinesis training."

Jaina grabbed an emptied bottle and gave it to him.

Anakin blinked. "What should I do with it?"

Xander grinned. "Make it empty." The younger teen looked at the already empty bottle "But…"  
Xander stopped the protest. "It's full of air. Use the Force to remove it and put something on the bottle. But use the cargo weight to see what its weight is before and after you removed the air."

Lowbacka growled a surprised question as he too took a bottle.

Xander laughed. "No, I have not mastered this exercise. But I have emptied a bottle of about 60 % of its air. This is one training method the ghosts told me about and the second part is filling it with only oxygen."

Jaina, seeing Anakin was about to ask something, answered the expected question. "No, I have only just started with it. I managed 10 % the first time."

The two walked out, each holding a bottle.

Xander mused to himself. "It's good that I told Jacen and Tenel-Ka both about the lightsaber cadence and the bottle training."

Jaina nodded. "They need some training. From what Lowbacka said, sparring in lightsaber combat forms and then the remote training was the only type of training they did" she sighed. The remote was a form of control training that, depending on the number of remotes, could become incredible difficult, but variation is the key. The remotes showed a Jedi how to parry long range attacks. The candence did only one thing, it helped you to improve the way you move and use your lightsaber, thus making every other type of combat training easier.

Xander reminded her: "Kyle spent years in the valley of the Jedi. Corran Horn did teach them the illusion tricks and ways to extend your sense of vision that we have not learned yet."

She nodded. They had told Luke about the candance and it would be an exercise he would include among the new Jedi, the moment they started lightsaber training.

*

Three days later over the planet Dac, this also was called Mon Calamari prime.

The Enterprise landed on a space platform and they walked out.

Xander blinked. "Hey, this is solid ground!" he said in surprise.

Meeting them were Leia and Han Solo. "What? Did you believe this was only water?"

Xander nodded. "Yes, the information about the planet said no continents." he explained.

Leia smiled. "Dac has a lot of small islands, but no continents. The Mon Calamari treat those islands as holy and almost no outsider may land here. It was here on these islands that their civilization started."

Xander nodded, looking respectfully at the tiny space port on an island that would burn a vampire to death.

*

Later in the guest house

Xander finished his explanation. "That's our plan."

Han nodded. "The Falcon is flight ready by now." Escaping the New Republic had hurt his baby big time.

Leia agreed. "I can find Luke," she smiled and hugged Anakin. "And it's so good having my cute baby with me," she said while hugging her youngest child.

From her arms a sound something like "mom you're embarrassing me" was heard.

A short moment later Jaina was also hugged.

Han Solo turned back to Xander. "Look kid, attacking the Hutts is a bad idea. They stick together, one murder and even Hutts who were enemies before will be gunning after you."

He leaned forward. "Why don't you use the smart way instead? Sneak inside and steal the information." The security among slave traders was always bad.

Xander nodded. "Right, by the way, my ship has Type 2.1 maneuverability and a Class 7 engine that has a cruising speed of 80 mglt. It also has two quad cannons, two missile launchers and a twin auto-blaster, same type the B-wing's use. Also a military class 5 hull and class 3 military shields," he said with pride.

Han Solo raised his eyebrows. "You have a long way to go kid. The Falcon has two quads, one double missile launcher and a heavy anti personal repeater blaster and last but not least a tractor beam. That's for the weapons."  
He grinned. "Class ½ hyperdrive, Class 9 Engine with a cruising speed of 110, Type 2 maneuverability and a military class 6 hull with military class 3 shields." He gave a smug smile.

Xander eyes narrowed. "The Enterprise is going to be the best ship ever."

There was silence all around them as the two pilots kept bragging about their ships.

Leia sighed. Jaina sighed back. It would take some time before they managed to make the Enterprise as good as the Falcon is. Anakin smiled, he could feel that his dad and Xander were really starting to bond now.

Han nodded. "We'll see about that, let's go out kid and I'll show you how to modify your ship."

Lowbacka and Chewbacca followed the two outside.

*

Han really liked the young Jedi now. It was the duty of the older to help the young, especially one who was keeping his daughter safe.

An hour later, after a live pilot test, that the local Mon Calamari fighter aces were more than willing to help with.

Some of those Aces were members of Rouge and Wraith squadron who had abandoned their place in the Republic. The two ships had landed again and Han and Xander were talking with each other. Han Solo was not Force sensitive, but he had a deep imprint in the Force and his skill piloting a ship was of the charts. Using his own skill, improved by the Force, Xander still was nowhere near the level of the piloting skill Han had.

Only a day later Xander and Jaina, with Lowbacka beside them, were flying to Nal Hutta and the smuggler moon Nar Shaddaa. Nal Hutta is a large planet with almost no natural heavy metals. It consisted mostly of swamps, bugs and oceans. The natural day lasted 87 hours and a year lasted 413 local days. Constant rain drizzled down on much of the surface and the big industrial center of the Hutts made it a polluted greasy rain.

According to the Hutts, it was a beautiful planet that they called their home world. Originally it had been full of rainforests and plains. Then the Hutt came to the planet after losing their own world Varl and took it over.

They were still changing and adapting. The long lived Hutts were in no hurry. Polluting the atmosphere was all part of their plan to make Nal Hutta better than their now destroyed home planet had been, in their mind.

They had the addresses of more than one place to visit. First was a stop by Shug Ninx on Nar Shadda, to leave him a gift of money and some rare power accumulators to replace a ship Han destroyed 13 years earlier.

"This is the light cargo ship Klingon. I need clearing to land at the Shug Ninx yard." Xander said, using one on of his ships fake IDs that Han and Ackbar had helped him fix.

Finally a reply came. "Captain Al-Xan, you are cleared to land at Shug Ninx yard. Do be warned it's a private starship yard." landing control said as the Enterprise speeded down on the city moon of Nar Shadda.

The yard was as it always had been, hidden inside a huge building. Its size was so large that you could park a Correlian corvette and still have room over for five more. Engines and other systems were being installed in over nine ships at the moment.

As they landed Xander noticed some of the ships in nearby repair docs were hard to see.

Jaina nodded. "Probably a visual distortions field which makes it impossible to see what it is. Just that something is there."  
Xander nodded as a big tall human looking person with spots on his face walked up. He was in his early 60's or there about and looked strong as a Wookiee. That was the engineer Shug Nix. Lowbacka was actually shorter then Shug Nix.

Xander smiled a greeting. "Hi. I have 400 000 credits and a pair of military graded power accumulators. It's the X-912 accumulators."

Shug Nix nodded. "You want to improve the ship using that much money? If it's really an X-912, then they are too big for you ship."

They were priceless, nobody build X-912s anymore and it was the only accumulator that could improve the power access on capital and medium sized transport ships more than 170 % in one simple and easy to hide installation. Sure there were others, but they were not as good.

Xander grinned. "Not really, it's to repay a debt of guilt. I am just a courier, but our friend managed to destroy one of your priceless ships and he felt guilty about it. When we said we were flying by, he asked us to carry the money and accumulators here and ask you humbly for your forgiveness. Last time he was more worried about his 5 year old twins and the new born child, than actually noticing that he had insulted you and caused you the loss of a priceless ship," he said, sounding diplomatic.

Shug Nix frowned and then smiled a big grin. "Han Solo the old pirate, I heard he has gone criminal again. Don't worry, I forgave him years ago. He was a dad and it was war. Sure it hurt, but I recovered." He then looked at them sharply. "But I'm still going to keep the money and the accumulators. " He turned around and started to walk away, he needed to  
arrange for the cargo droids to offload those babies from the Klingon. "Follow me."

As they entered the cargo area, he started to guide a pair of cargo droids outside.

Shug Nix turned back to Xander. "That was 13 years ago, those twins and the baby must be what, 18 and 14 now?"

Jaina piped up from the shadows below, "18 next week."

Shug Nix turned and looked at her, frowning as he tried to put Han Solo's face on Jaina. "I think I can spot some of Solo in you." he smiled and slapped his hand friendly on Jaina's shoulders, almost crushing them.

"Let me tell you about a young stupid hot head with the name Han, who I had working here. See Solo had found that dump he called Bria after a girl he knew. The Bria was a SoroSubb starmite class." He stopped. "I have not seen one of those ships in years."

Later in the home of Shug Nix he and Sally Zend, a former girlfriend of Han, entertained the teens with funny stories about Han Solo and Chewbacca from when they were young.

Sally Zend, a dark skinned human, moved a bit too ferociously and was too strong to be a pure blooded human. Not that Xander cared, since he too was a near-human now. Chances were that Sally Zend was actually closer to normal human than he was.

"So I heard the girl turns 18 in a week?" she said as she managed to capture him alone, while Shug Nix entertained Jaina and tried to intimidate Lowbacka by showing that he was actually stronger then a Wookiee. (Thanks to an Accident and a replacement cybernetic arm. Not that he told Lowbacka that.)

Xander shrugged. "I have plans." He sighed. "She is worth a million of me and yet…" he said, looking at the giggling woman.

Sally smiled. "Good. She deserves it. Give you a tip on where to take her."

*

Later on Nal Hutta

They had taken the Enterprise down, hiding it using the Force cloak. It was difficult, but combined the two did manage to do it. Unseen, they had landed near where the Hutt in question had his palace.

While on Nar Shadda Xander did experiment with the Force cloak. Hutts were immune to most mental force powers, but the Force cloak was both physical and mental, as it affected both machines and the living. Force Stealth on the other hand was a pure mental power and it would not affect a Hutt.

His suspicions were proven correct. The Hutt on Nar Shadda could see them, even when they were using the Force cloak. It looked like he had difficulties focusing his eyes on them, but he could see that something almost invisible was sneaking nearby and the Hutt started screaming for his body guard.

Now they were going to sneak inside a Hutt palace.

Jaina sighed. "It's a stupid idea. Let's do it."

With Xander leading the way, they moved on. In their armor they looked like a pair of elite fighters. A short burst of Force flight and they were on the palace roof. Getting inside was not that difficult. The droids and guards noticed nothing and they used mostly the shadow trick of Mara Jade and old fashioned sneaky skills while moving about. Only while passing the more populated or the more guarded areas did they use the draining power of the Force Cloak.

In a big courtyard they could see the Hutt partying and enjoying themselves, twil'lek and human dancing girls were standing by, ready for dancing or just feeding the Hutt. For now they ignored it as they entered the computer room.

An hour later: Finding half a million humans spread out across the galaxy was not easy. Xander almost paled over how many the Hutt had sold to spice mining on Kessel or other hostile worlds, but there was a big transport to Tatooine and one shipment full of fighters to a hostile world named Sevarcos to mine Andris and Carsunum spice and four of the girls in this castle were Earth humans.

Too many, spread out on too many worlds. Literally thousands of worlds were the 500 000 or more humans had ended up. He was angry, too many to help, too many to save. If he spends a life time finding them, he could still not find them all.  
Jaina could feel the rage growing inside Xander before he took a grip on himself and calmed himself, slowly, very slowly, until he once again was calm and collected.

Xander sighed. "Right, take the information back to the Enterprise and tell Lowbacka and the droids to be ready for takeoff when we return." He grinned. "We are going to steal some slaves, all five of them. I'm going to need your and Lowbacka's help. They have explosive implants and the key to remove it safely is here. Fastest way would be to just kidnap them." He was silent. "Killing the Hutt would be bad for our future life. But stealing some of his money and terrifying him when he is alone would be acceptable," he said hopefully.

Jaina shook her head. "No. Why don't we steal the slaves and some treasure and write down the mark of the Black Sun? The Hutts hate them."

Xander nodded. "We could assassinate one of the Hutts using that mark as a shield against their wrath. Han said the Hutt conclave have been itching for a fight against the Black Sun."

Jaina nodded. "Better if we use explosives. That way we can hide the fact that the slave girls were kidnapped. Of course then we have to save all the girls in that part of the palace."

Xander nodded. "Explosives do sound like a Black Sun tactic. From what I read, they like explosions." Of course the Hutt lord in question could survive with luck, but at least he would have a chance to cripple these slavers and their friends.

They moved away.

*

Later on in the long night

Cloaked in shadows the three Jedi moved like Ninjas out of the palace, each carrying two sleeping slaves. Then back again for the last pack of slaves, but this time only two of them were carrying slaves. The last one was installing explosions in the courtyard, the slave stable and the Hutt sleeping quarter.

They had to sacrifice four proton torpedoes to create the bombs and they also left a tiny ring that they had made. Jaina said it looked exactly like a real Black Sun ring. Leaving it near the explosion made sure that some of it would survive and could be identified and the Hutt conclave, already itching for a war against the Black Sun, would jump at the chance. They hoped that it sounded like a good plan.

Shrugging they moved away.

In the cargo hold three Earth and four Twi-lek girls were still sleeping. The Twi-lek slaves had become more expensive after the New Republic helped free Rythol from slavers, but there were still many small Twi-lek colonies and even slave farms, because Twi-lek's were popular as slaves. Xander could understand that there was something almost hypnotic and alluring with the way a Twi-lek moved.

Using Force Cloak on the ship, they quickly lifted off and flew away from the planet.

*

Later in the cargo hold

One by one the girls awoke, as the drugs in their blood were removed.

"Where are we?" was the first question one of the humans asked.

Seeing a furry Wookiee in armor and two armored humanoids did not make them feel any less nervous.

Xander removed his helmet. "You are safe. I have removed the slave implants and I can drop you of anywhere you like." he said to the Twi-lek girls. Then he continued in English: "You five, I know were another American lives. He can help you girls get an education and a chance for a new life here."

He smiled and continued: "My name is Jedi knight Xander Harris."

One of the Twi-lek's frowned and said, "Jedi do not use armor."

A young African American girl gasped in surprise. "You are from Earth?"

Another, blond-haired, Earth girl looked confused. "What is a Cheddar knight?" she asked. A red-haired girl corrected her.

"Jedi, not cheddar."

"Cheddar? Cheddar? I'm not a cheese." Xander whined, making the entire girls giggle at the way he sounded.

*

Later in the ships galley

Having only room for 5+1 passengers in the rooms on the ship, the girls had to share a room and use the prison cell, not that they minded. The name of the girls were Emily, the blond, Molly, a redhead who apparently got angry if you asked if she was English or Irish, and last the African American Rona.

Xander cleared his throat. "Right, I'm going to give each of you a part of the loot in exchange for your silence about me freeing you. Officially you are dead, according to the Hutt, and most likely, so is he."

He finished. "So where do you girls want to be dropped off? I know" he said to the Earth girls, "where you would find a home and help, but you Twi-lek's, where should I bring you?"

Seeing their confusion, he nodded. "I know of a planet called Gelgelar, where there is a free port where you could find work and a home. Is that fine with you?"

They nodded. "That would take about two days, between the station and Gelgelar."  
One of the girls asked if they would free all of the enslaved people from Earth.

Xander shook his head sadly. "I wish I could. But there are too many enslaved people spread out on thousands of worlds over a whole galaxy." He sighed. "I'm going for the big and easy targets, where I can free many at the same time and I hope that in time I can forgive myself for not saving all."

Jaina nodded. "Most of them have probably been sold and resold to other owners by now."  
Lowbacka nodded as he moved away. He had some training to do.

Xander nodded as he studied the girls, especially Rona, before talking in English. "Lots of strange things go on here, although compared to Sunnydale, this is nothing."

As he had suspected, the girl was too good, she moved like a fighter. Like a trained fighter, yet she was only 16. The name Sunnydale made her twitch.

He smiled and innocently asked. "Rona, did you live with your parents or with a Watcher?" He used the Force, trying to influence her to answer.

Rona answered: "My dad was a Watcher." She fell silent as she looked up, in fear of him.

Jaina looked at him with a puzzled frown.

Xander nodded. "I think we should talk in private. It seems Rona and I might know some common friends from England."

Now Rona really twitched.

A short moment later Jaina, Rona and Xander were alone in the cockpit.

Rona looked worried. "So what do you want?"

Xander shrugged. "Nothing, but let me tell you about me first." Picking up a crystal ball, he projected some of his memories in it. "The blond over there is Buffy the Vampire slayer, the redhead beside her is Willow Rosenberg and the old stuffy guy is Rupert Giles." He looked at her and she recognized the name.

Xander continued. "Then the dimension rifts happened. Civilians vanished, gold was stolen and suddenly they appeared." An image of the angel and demon were seen in the crystal. "They said every time the gate opens, Earth risked facing a super-nova." Seeing her surprise Xander nodded. "And that both the side of good and evil had invested too much time to let that happen."

"To make a long story short, the laws of nature are different here. No champion like a Slayer, a witch or even a demon from Earth could survive in this universe, but they could send a NORMAL human through. They adapted him to be successful in this new reality, but they told him it would be a one way trip. Being the only normal human fighting demons in our group, I accepted." Xander said. Jaina leaned her head on his shoulder.

Rona looked as the picture faded.

Xander continued. "Since then I have adapted the skills implanted in me and have made the process fast. I managed to become a Jedi knight in record time and before that I had been fighting side by side with the Slayer since I was fifteen."

Rona frowned. "But vampires are too fast for normal humans."

Xander nodded. "I know. But there are tricks you can use."

He leaned forward. "What are you? The way you move, the way you act. I don't know, you seem to be, yet you are not." He looked frustrated. "Something about you says close, but not a Slayer."

Rona swallowed. "I'm a potential Slayer."

Xander nodded in comprehension. "Like Kendra." Seeing Jaina's confusion, he explained. "As I said, there could be only ONE slayer at the time, but Buffy drowned and I brought her back to life through CPR and a girl named Kendra was called as the next Slayer. Even being temporarily dead seemed enough to call a new girl." He showed them a picture of Kendra from his memory, then his memory of Buffy lying pale in the dirty cave water.

After that he showed a moving memory of both Buffy and Kendra dusting vampires like they were going out of style.  
He looked down. "She was murdered by Drusilla, a master vampire, but I remember that she said the Watchers raised her from newborn on. They knew she would or could become the Slayer."

Rona nodded. "I should have been the same, but my father was a former Watcher and we made a deal. He taught me what I needed to learn and they just kept an eye out on me."

Xander nodded. "I see the fine print. No Champion like the slayer could survive here. But you are not an active Slayer of their force."

Rona nodded. "I survived."

Jaina frowned in puzzlement. "So what is the difference between normal humans and potentials?" she asked.

Rona shrugged. "Nothing, but since I came here, I have become faster, stronger and I heal faster, but not as fast as a Slayer would." For a while she had believed she had become the Slayer, but she had no Slayer dreams and she could not bend iron with her hands.

Xander was silent as he watched the girl. "Normally the Slayer potential is activated by magic. The spirit of the Slayer enters the body and you are the new Slayer, but part of the potential is always there. It is just that there is not enough power to activate more than one Slayer at the same time. I believe the Force in this universe discovered the potential in you, then adapted and activated it."

Jaina gabbed at Xander. "What? She is a Slayer now, but Force activated?" She frowned a bit. "The girl does give of a strange feeling in the Force."

*

Later

Dressed up in padded protection gear, Xander and Rona stood on either side of the cargo hold. Jaina and her trusted R6 were recording.

"Ready. 3, 2, 1." and Rona attacked, dodged, parried and blocked. Xander danced around. "Faster. Faster! What, are you weak?" he yelled as Rona moved faster and faster.

Jaina could feel it. The Force was pumping into the girl like she was permanently using it to enhance her body. Using Force speed and Force strength Xander started to move faster and faster to keep up with the girl. "Rona, don't be angry. Calm down and move faster." he instructed. Rona stopped moving. "What?"

Jaina nodded. "Seek outside yourself to find it. Wait." she said, walking up to the girl and putting her hands on her head.

"Do you feel me?" Rona nodded. "Now follow me."

She said as she sent a Force probe inside the girl, trying to find her center, her core of strength. Then an echo was felt from both of them. This was one way a Jedi could help their students to access and learn to use the power of the Force. Finding the power was always the key to learning how to use it.

Rona was different, she was not really Force sensitive, yet she could use the Force to improve her own natural ability, perhaps even better then a Jedi could. A battle between a fully trained Rona and a fully trained Jedi would be a terrible thing to see. Telekinesis and long range attacks would be the solution against Rona. Close combat and they were most likely almost equal, with Rona as the slightly stronger and faster person.

Lowbacka growled, agreeing in how difficult it could be to find the Force.

Emily and Molly eyes were big as Manhattan, they had a hard time seeing the two move. The Twi'leks surprise was just as great, even though they expected something like that from a Jedi.

Xander nodded as he dried the sweat off. He turned and looked at Jaina, who nodded back. She was interested in seeing exactly what a Slayer could do.

"Right, If you want training Rona, we offer you that and a home with us. It will not be a safe journey, but we will teach you anything we can or if you wish, you can follow the others to a former Earth police officer who is now a store owner on a deep space platform. He can help you get an education and perhaps some work. It might not be the same as mine, but safer." Xander said.

Jaina nodded, that was so cool, as Xander sometimes said. She never did get what cold had to do with anything impressive, but Earth was a primitive planet, maybe keeping food cold was something only rich families could do. That would make cold stuff impressive ergo they called them cool. She patted herself on the shoulder for analyzing that in such a logical way.  
The potential Slayer, mutated into a Force Slayer, was definitively cool. Perhaps Force warrior. No, Force guardian would be the correct term. Force slayer sounded like something the Sith would use.

*

Later

Rona had lot of thinking to do. She was only 15 when she and a half a million other New Yorkers were suddenly on an alien world. An ambush was waiting for them as they arrived in a huge, crater like, dugout, which was surrounded by armed aliens or demons, as she had believed then. Strong energy weapons that stunned anyone they hit and gas grenades putting others to sleep.

It did not take long before the New Yorkers had given up and were chained up like animals. Strange robots, so called Translator droids, were brought to talk with them. It had taken the droids less than a day to learn English and once that was done, they started to question them for information. She was considered too young to know anything, so instead they had put her in a sped up language lesson.

Two hour lessons and she knew Basic and it was a short time after that she knew her future would be hell or worse. Becoming a Hutt dancing girl was actually good, compared to what the other girls had to suffer. All she had to do was dance and keep looking beautiful. The Hutt actually protected them against rape or other physical attacks that could hurt them. Some girls had been given to a guest as night gifts, but as a dancing girl and as one of the favorites, she had escaped that humiliation. They were treasures, decorations that kept the Hutt's palace more fascinating. He even said that the graceful motion of dancing humans and Twi'leks reminded him of the flowing rivers and the muddy swamps, with water constantly moving in the wind.

In a Hutt mind a swamp could be used to describe something beautiful, but she always felt insulted and now she had a choice. As the ship raced through the awesome distances in space, Rona sat curled up on the sofa, twisting her dark hair with her fingers. Thinking and trying to find out what she would do. Beside her Molly and Emily sat and watched.

End of Chapter Five

**18. 6-0**

Note1: As before and probably in the future also our thanks goes to Inachis  
Note2: Originally this chapter was posted as 6-0 and 6-1, I just merged them for the reposting here.

6-0

Jaina's birthday party had been a small affair, inside a luxury restaurant on the Errant Venture, a mobile base for traders and smugglers inside a remodeled Star Destroyer.

It was simple yet wonderful, as they could relax knowing that Corran Horn and Lowbacka were keeping an eye out for any trouble coming their way and as promised the moment she was 18, he asked her THE question. Jaina's answer was to wrestle him down with a hug of death, screaming YES, YES, YES.

They were now engaged to be married, the moment her whole family could come or they would most likely hurt him.

*

Later on Tatooine

The two suns made the atmosphere hot like a boiling oven. Only the hardest life forms, evolved to survive in a dry climate, could live on a planet like this.

Of course that did not stop humans, durros, Hutts and even Mon Calamari from considering it a good idea to call the dust ball home. It was far away and outside of such irritating subjects as LAW and ORDER. It had also been a place where heroes had been born or grew up more than once.

Something on this planet made it easy to forget. Perhaps it was just the heat. You just could not bother to remember strangers. Xander personally believed the planet was cursed. The air was just too dry and his gills hurt. Putting some cloth around the gills to moisten them helped, most of the pain vanished. Good to know his weakness before it bit him in the ass.

Lowbacka was back at the ship as backup, but also because he was trying to install a pair of power couplings that perhaps could nurse out more speed from the engine without hurting it. Rona was moving around, eyes on everyone and everything.  
Xander spoke with a rusty voice that made Jaina concerned. "What is it, Xander?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I have gills. It's dry."

Rona was there in an instant. "Gills?" she asked in surprise. Jaina nodded. "He got improved by the Angel and Demon he showed you," she said.

Xander croaked out "Cantina" and walked away.

Rona blinked. "But gills?" she asked again as she hurried after him, without noticing the alien she bumped into. The creature did and he roared out as he pushed back. Rona fell down and was about to attack when Xander moved in between. Seeing him in a body-armor made out of flexible armor material, in black and with his eyes glittering green and yellow, the alien stopped.

"Careful should you be. Dishonor this one you did. Careful should you be," he grounded out and then turned and left.  
Making sure the being would not attack them in the back they kept going towards the Cantina.

They walked in. Jaina frowned, she was sure both Luke and Dad had told her about this place. She shrugged as they walked inside. Jaina tugged Rona along to a table as Xander came with the drinks. Without a word he handed them out.

Jaina asked, "Better now?"

Xander nodded. "I think I got dust in the gills. Moist cloth seems to keep the pain away." He purred more water on the cloth before putting it back over his gills.

Rona looked absolutely shocked. "Do they work?" she babbled. Xander nodded, smiling more with the pain was. The air must be thick with dust particles. Stretching out with the Force, he tried to sense if that was true.

"The air is full of dust particles. Sand is everywhere." Jaina said, grinning. She had checked the moment he complained about the pain. Xander nodded and double checked what she said, not because he doubted her word, but because he wanted to recognize the feeling the air had.

Rona drained her drink quickly. "I'll get another one," she said, moving up to the bar.  
"Hey" she waved to the bartender. "3 scorro rava if you have them." Scorro rava drink she had learned to appreciate as a slave girl. It was much like brandy, but more spicy and hot.

"Hey you pushed me," an ugly female Aqualish said.

Rona blinked. Did she anger somebody again? "I'm sorry."

Xander and Jaina watched the goings on from the table. It felt like she had heard this story before.

The ugly one had a just as ugly human female with her. "You be careful, we are wanted females." she said.

Rona looked at them, really looked at them and tried to be peaceful, tried to find a good lie, tried to turn her back to them. "Wanted by what, the ugly planet?" Crap.

The whole bar was silenced.

Somehow an echo carried her response around the Cantina.

The Aqualish female attacked first. Roaring in anger, she tried to bash Rona's head in with her fin like hands. Rona dodged and gave the Aqualish a hard hit in the gut with her left and a jaw breaking uppercut with her right hand. Using her full strength she sent the Aqualish flying, almost crushing a Jawa.

The ugly human now standing behind her drew her gun.

She could hear the sound of the bartender screaming "No blasters", but it was too late.

A click, Hiss, Click was heard and then a sound as a hand and a gun crashed down on the floor and a scream of pain, as the ugly female held her arm, the hand and the gun cut off.

Jaina put her lightsaber away. "This feels so familiar," she said as she helped Rona carry the drinks back. "It's as if I'd heard about something like this happening before." She wonders why.

Xander grinned at them. "Good reflexes." he said to the confused Jaina. "Right, let's drink up and get out. We know where the slave import and the slave factory are."

Jaina nodded. "How are we going to do this?" she asked.

Xander frowned. "Good question. Going around creating new enemies is bad, if you want to live long, but we have to convince the owner to let any Earth humans he has to leave."

He drank and then snorted as the drink burned in his throat. "That's spicy." Shrugging he continued. "If I could, I would free all the slaves. But that would mean a war I would not win."

Jaina nodded. "You have no idea, have you?" she translated. Xander nodded. She hummed, leaning back and sipping her Rava. It was good, but not her favorite. It was a bit too spicy.

"First get the information on where the slaves are and then look around. See what we can do to free them."  
Xander nodded as they walked out.

*

Later

The slave factory where the slaves supposedly were worked to death under inhuman conditions was different from what he had suspected. A tiny flying alien greeted them, while beside him walked a human wearing glasses and a tattoo of spider- and super girl.

An educated guess would be that this man was from Earth.

The alien spoke first. "Greetings and welcome to our recycling and repulsor factory, where you can get old parts good as new and new repulsor coils cheap." He floated up in the air "I am Addo, owner of the factory." he said with pride.

Xander nodded. "Um right, let's talk inside."

*

Half an hour later

The human with the Tattoo was Thomas, an Earthling. The flying bug guy was Addo, a Tooderian. This was an alien race neither Xander nor Jaina had no information about.

Addo laughed. "Slaves? No, I have no slaves, not anymore, you see. I bought many slaves. They do not work very well. I buy lot of slaves, give them small pay, if they work bad, and big pay if they work good. If they want, they can buy themselves after a year. Most have to work nine years. This year was good. Slave was genius." He said looking at the tattooed man. "He tripled my income, he earned me big money. Now slaves earned freedom in half a year or gain freedom by work in five years. Now the two of us are boss of the company. We hire out workers to all of Tatooine. Farmers pay big money for many farm hands and small money for one farm hand. If not working as farm hands, they are working for me in the factory, earning small money."

He smiled proudly. "Have fifty worker retired as farmers or move out. I buy more and more slaves. All of Thomas brothers and sisters from Earth I could find I bought. Offer them the half year as slave then freedom, if they can pay it, or freedom without pay in 5 years. They worked hard and Thomas plan gave them freedom in five months. They still work hard for me and painted man is rich." He said waving his hand at Thomas.

He buzzed around the room. "We are getting rich, future in company. Company helps slaves buy farms. Company owns half farm and help farmer. Company helps slave buy ship, owns half ship and takes half the pay, but help ship owner find cargo to earn money."

Jaina giggled. "Wow, you became rich by freeing your slaves," she said.

Addo nodded as he or she landed on a desk. "Yes. Painted man Thomas helped me good." He said smiling at his human friend.

Thomas grinned. "Well, you have the connections to make it work. It is a team effort," he said.

Xander looked shell shocked. "Um. Well, don't I feel stupid." he said in basic. Then he switched to English. "I was trying to find as many slaves from home as possible and free them," he said.

Thomas quickly switched to English as well. "You know a way home?" he asked, with hope in his voice.

Xander twitched. "No. Not home. Just tried to find a way to free you from slavery," he said in English.

Addo spoke up. "You from his home" he said in English. "Proud should you be, painted man made both of us rich."

Xander snorted in laughter. "Yea, I'm proud. Why do you call him painted man?" Addo grinned. "In my home there are priest. Much respected, much feared they are. They paint themselves permanent. We called them Enarote. In Basic or English it would be painted man. It's a sign of respect."

Thomas shrugged. "Well, I'm satisfied with this, but you are free to talk to the other workers. Right now we have only fifteen slaves. All of them have earned the cost of buying themselves out and will be turned free in five months."

Rona giggled. "You really know business," she said.

Thomas nodded. "I was a rich playboy at home, old money. Never needed to do anything but party, and I hated it. This was, as strange as it sounds, a challenge to become something more than a shadow of my forefather." He looked at them. "My Great, great, great grandfather did almost the same thing with African American slaves. He let them buy their own freedom, no tricks. He even paid for their work. The more they worked, the more he paid. When the war came between the south and the north, he escaped to the north, rich as a dog, and with a ship load of former slaves full of gratitude towards him."

He grinned. "He created a factory making saddles in New York. Later he invested in the shipyards."

*

Later

The factory was just that. Xander really did not need to see anything. He could feel honesty from Thomas. It was just… He felt stupid. It was as if he was riding in like a shining knight to save the poor princess from the evil farm eating dragon and she had married the dragon and they had become friends with the farmers.

So, he felt a little stupid.

He looked around in the factory's cafeteria. It was full of workers who all seemed to know what he had been here for. What was worse, they had heard stories from what Rona had told them and from what they had been told about both the famous Jedi Knights like him and about the feared Mandaloorians, who had armor as he did. Now they where whispering about a real hero trying to save them. Even if he was late, it was a real hero.

Xander stood and cleared his throat. "I came to a later gate. I was lucky, managed to escape and get training as a fighter, a Jedi." He smiled. "As soon as I could, I tried to find and help the kidnapped and enslaved people from Earth. 500 000 were kidnapped and sold illegally over the whole galaxy as slaves. I knew I could save perhaps 1000 of them. I would have to risk my own life and be lucky to succeed and many would have died in my fight to free them." He turned to Thomas, drawing his lightsaber. "He freed over 6000 of you and once again he proved that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword or a blaster."

He continued, using the lightsaber to point at them. "I will always remember this and so should you. That man is a real hero." With a click and a hiss, he put the blade away.

There was silence as they started to think about what he had said, then applause filled the room and they were screaming for Thomas to take a stand. Cries of "Thomas Thomas" filled the room.

Xander sighed happyly. "Now I'm happy," he said, seeing Thomas blush, looking both uncomfortable and yet extremely happy.

Rona was puzzled. "Why did you do that?" she asked.

Xander answered: "Because a real hero might be late, but he is always in time," he said, confusing the younger girl.

Rona frowned. "Ah I see, you have no idea why you did it either, right?"

Xander frowned. Perhaps he had to do more to confuse her. Jaina giggled, the traitor. Sighting, Xander explained the truth. "It's the tattoos. One of Spider-Girl and the other of Supergirl, both are heroes. Something I believe or feel that Thomas wished he could be. But he already is a hero." he finished.

He had been able to feel a mix of envy and dreamful longing leaking out from Thomas when they explained the duty of a Jedi to defend and protect.

Jaina smiled knowingly as she hugged Xander's shoulder. "And that's one reason. Now tell her your personal one."

Xander sighed. "I came here to help the slaves and I was too late for that, but I was in time to help the hero understand that he is what he always dreamed off, a real hero." he said. If he could not help the former slaves any more, he could help Thomas.

Rona nodded. "You felt useless and had to do something," she said, rolling her eyes.

Xander grinned. "She is a smart one," he declared.

*

Inside the Enterprise Lowbacka activated the power core. The hum of the engine was singing perfectly. He growled in satisfaction and agreement with the engines sound. He wondered if Xander had discovered that the slaves had become free by themselves. He had discovered it during landing by reading some old Tatooine news, but decided to keep the information to himself. He needed some time to work on the Enterprise power core. The power couplings gave them perhaps 5% more energy to use during combat. If he could turn that five percent in, that would be Hyper as Jacen used to say.

*

Later on their way to Sevarcos

The file on the planet did not say that much. Not even updating the information on Alderaan gave much more.  
Sevarcos

Type: Terrestrial  
Temperature: Hot during the day, cool during night.  
Atmosphere: Type B  
Hydrosphere: Arid  
Gravity: Standard.  
Terrain: Plains, Dessert, Mountains, a small sea.  
Length of day: 26 hours.  
Length of year: 378 local days.  
Sentient Species: Humans: Others in Mining regions.  
Starports: 2 imperial classes and 4 standard classes.  
Population: Native Unknown, believed to be around 5-6 million. Not including spice mine slaves and imperial personal.  
Planet function: Home world, Spice mining.  
Government: Council of spice lords, local Imperial governor.  
Tech Level: Industrial with Vestiges of feudal.  
Major Exports: Andris and Carsunum spice.  
Major Imports: Low tech. Space tech.  
Capture: Sevarcos is known for its varieties of spice and its infamous spice mines. Although the native Sevari have grown accustomed to the tiny granules of pure spice carried into the atmosphere by the wind, visitors should wear breath masks or breathe filters to negate the effect. See file: Spice narcosis.  
Warning: The tiny spice particles are known to enter weapons and cause explosions inside blasters when used.  
Sevarcos is still under Imperial control.

Rona closed the file on Narcosis. "Uh, it's like the planets air is full of drugs." she said. Spice Narcosis was an unusual form of drug overdose that airborne pure spice could cause. The victim would fall into a coma like sleep that only a doctor's treatment would wake them from.

While Rona was learning about the dangers of the atmosphere, Jaina and Xander were studying the local space. It was not easy to fly in. Asteroid fields combined with an elite TIE fighter wing using Mark 2 TIE-Interceptors. The difference from the Mark 1 being that it had shields. Probes and satellites moved on the outside of the system, making it hard to enter without being detected. They did have a way pass that, but it would be draining.

The Jedi files Luke gave them had some information also, not much but interesting. Andris spice was interesting, mixed in food and medicine to improve and protect them from spoilage. Andris was the common spice they sold and everyone wanted more of it.

See classified file: Andris spice medication advice. Open to healers only.

It can also be used to improve the natural strength of flavor in food. No side effects are known, but drug and spice abusers claim mixing Andris with other drugs and spice protects the user from overdosing on the drug / spice. No evidence exists to confirm this.

Carsunum on the other hand was also called black spice. It enhanced the users' physical abilities and senses for five or six minutes. Constant use caused a powerful addiction to evolve, but used slowly over a year or two, Carsunum created a permanent and improved protection against telepathy.

Uses of Carsunum: improve physical development in a human. Strength endurance can be improved. Warning, the addiction is powerful and causes rage, sadness and confusion. Andris spice can lessen the side effects of Carsunum addiction. A side affect of long term use of Carsunum is that the white of the eyes turns grayish.

Rona looked shocked. "Except for the addiction, that Carsunum sounds useful," she said.

Xander nodded. "That's why it's a spice. The side effects are often mild compared to other drugs, but the addiction can be severe. Glitterstim users have been known to remove their own eyes in pain if they have no glitter to consume."

Rona nodded. "It's just the improved physical strength sounds good and so does the telepathy protection." she grinned.

Xander shrugged. "Your mind already has a strong protection. Not the strength of a Hutt, but stronger then a normal  
human, and from what I feel, its growing stronger the stronger you become."

*

Hours later

The Sevarcos sun was burning in front of them as they created a bubble of Force Cloak around the ship and then quickly moved to the planet. Sweat was flowing down their faces by the time they finally landed.

Xander helped Jaina up, only to fall onto his knees.

Lowbacka was already sleeping in the sensor operator's seat.

It was Rona who had to carry them to bed. Cloaking the ship for such a long distance had truly drained the three young Jedi. The more skilled you became, the less energy it demanded, and the more power you could use and the Jensaarai leader, the Saarai-Kaar, had managed to cloak a 1600 meter long Star Destroyer for an hour each day, alone.

Rona looked out at the wind pained planes of the planet. What was it they were supposed to do now? She mused. Right, put up the camouflage net. She hurried to pick up a breath mask and then turned to the two droids. "Right R3, R6, it's up to us to put the net up. You two are in charge and I'm the muscle. Just tell me what to do," she said, hurrying out.

The two astromech droids looked at each other. They could whistle and beep. Not talk.

It took a long time and by the end, a frustrated pair of droids and Rona walked into the ship. They had done it. "We did good, guys," she said to the two droids.

They stared at her before beeping an agreement. She did well for a human that could not understand them. It had taken an hour before she got the idea to use a data-pad as a translator.

*

Next morning

The endless wind whipped the constantly moving sand as a pair of swoops flew over it. Xander enjoyed driving the swoop with Rona sitting behind him on his Starslinger. Rona did not.

She had noticed early on that Xander had his eyes closed while piloting the swoop. His excuse that he was too afraid to drive with his eyes open and that the Force was with him, guiding him as he drove, did not make her calmer. Even if it did look like he somehow could see or sense where they were going.

Xander did have his eyes closed most of the time, although he did open them to double check the swoops navigational sensor and to look at Jaina. Sitting on that swoop with the armor on and the wind blowing through her cloak she looked like a warrior princess. He hoped she would accept him as her king.

He had officially asked her THE question. She did say yes, but she also wanted Xander to stay alive, so any wedding would have to wait until her family could actually be there to watch them being married, but she had said yes.

Both of them felt a disturbance in the Force. Humans where moving towards them. Seeing Jaina and Xander becoming more alert, Lowbacka stretched out his senses. There were humans moving towards them.

They slowed down. In the distance they could see simple repulsor rafts equipped with sailing masts. They sailed in the wind, flying over Sevarcos sand. As it was full of burrowing human eating monsters, that was probably a good idea. Four barges or rafts were sailing to them, each with around sixteen passengers or warriors.

The sailing rafts, equipped with cannons in the front, real chemical driven cannons not so unlike something you could see on Earth, slowed down. Apparently they could use the repulsor for drive also, but the wind moved them faster. Inside the rafts were human barbarians, sixteen of the warriors of one of the local spice lord's, out on a patrol.

Xander stood up on the tiny swoop. "Hi. Mind if we come over and talk?" he said, being as friendly as he could while wearing his armor, including hard chest pieces.

Annassa-Agreel Driistal was a man and a proud warrior who, for this one year, used the female name Annassa in tradition and gratitude, as a female warrior had saved the life of one of his loved ones. So for one year his name would be Annassa-Agreel, showing all that he considered the female warrior of his tribe to be part of his family. A great honor, even if some of the less traditional were amused over his new name, but he was neither a soft person nor a fool. He studied the three strangers, no four strangers. One of the swoops had a passenger. The man wore a strange armor in yellow and green. The armor protected the chest and stomach, the shoulder pads of the same material protected part of the over arms, while the lower arms were incased in dark yellow gauntlets. A dark green helmet hanged from his belt.

The other girls armor was less flashy, but otherwise almost identical. Then the girl sitting behind the now standing man, she had simple body armor. It would protect her against light attacks with knifes, but not much more.

The last swoop driver was a Wookiee, off all things, a Wookiee in armor.

Annassa called to them: "Then welcome onboard strangers. If you have the guts and hope that the reason for violating my home world is one I approve of. I might offer you sanctuary."

Xander nodded and pushed the button on his swoop so that it glided over and landed on the repulsor sailing barge. Beside him Jaina did the same thing. They looked at each other and smiled. Rona was nervous.

Annassa greeted them. "My name is Annassa, named Agreel in the past and again in the future, of the Driistal clan. What are your names and your reason for being on our home world?"

Xander leaned on his swoop in a relaxed position. "I am Xander, Jedi knight and former defender of the New Republic. Innocent members of my people were sold as slaves to the spice mines on this world. My reason and my duty is to save them and leave with as many as possible."

Each of the spice warriors was difficult to sense. The withes of their eyes were darker than normal, on all of them, and they all looked stronger then what would be normal for a human.

Of course these guys were used to enhancing themselves with black spice. He could see a black bag hanging around each warrior's neck.

Lowbacka snorted behind his breath mask. He was not afraid. If combat would come, he would show them the old Wookiee trick of ripping their arms off and beating them to death with it.

Annassa gave a grim smile. "You are going to storm the spice mines?" He laughed and then stopped as the armored girl suddenly vanished into thin air.

Then suddenly she was standing behind him. "No. He is not going to storm the spice mines. WE are going to storm the spice mines," she said.

His warriors grabbed at their weapons.

Annassa waved them off. "Calm down." He was quiet for a moment. "If you come in peace, I offer you and your friends' sanctuary on my war barge," he said, quietly hoping none of his warrior would be foolish enough to attack.

Xander nodded. "Gladly accepted, we only seek to save our friends and then leave your world. Even if it is a charming world, the spice in the air is a bit dangerous to outsiders," he said in his breath mask.

Annassa agreed. "It's a world for the strong, weaklings die or become strong," he said simply. The young man's armor was flashy, but he seemed to be a true fighter even so.

*

Later that night

Breaking bread and eating food with the warriors of one of Sevarcos clan of spice lords was impossible, as they also knew. Too much of their food held pure black spice in it, so the four outsiders were forced to eat dry rations while the warriors feasted on incredibly good smelling food. The warriors knew smart outsiders did that to survive, but it was fun to see them drool from the delicious smell of roasted hulifa.

Annassa explained where the spice mines where located and where you had to go to find information about the locations of slaves and also where one of many space ports where. They would need to steal a ship, if the slaves were still alive in larger numbers.

They would also need spice to help the slaves with their addiction. Andris could be used to slowly nurse away the addiction of the black spice. The air itself was full of spice particles, both Carsunum, the black spice, and Andris, the white spice. Spend some months living here and you could become an addicted spice abuser just from breathing the air itself. In a spice mine, the doses of black spice were higher and more concentrated. Slaves either died or became addicted to the spice filled air.

Annassa explained things to the three Jedi. "But we, our tribe, sell spice to the Imperials. No matter how much they dig out, they always want more. We know where the truly strong spice is located. We can offer you tons of Andris spice and advice on how to use it to nurse spice addicted slaves off of the black spice."

They did not have much of a choice in the matter. After talking between themselves, Lowbacka and his translator-mistake, also called a Translator-droid, stayed behind with the barbarians, holding the money they would need.

On the next day they said farewell as they drove closer to the Imperial garrison. Outside city, the barbarians called it, with walkers patrolling around it, the name fit. The garrison was standing in the centre of the city, big, ugly and mass produced.  
Unlike the mass produced town, there weren't all that many ways to actually sneak inside the garrison. Because of the pure number of sensors, including weight sensitive sensors, even Force cloaked persons could be detected, if you were unlucky.  
Leaving Rona in a safe place the two Jedi sneaked inside the town and then moved on to the garrison. Finding the bureaucratic section was easy, as each garrison was build to the same plan. It was entering and leaving again that would be the hard part.

The number of guards and patrol droids forced them to use the Force cloak the whole time. It was very draining. Finally they reached the computers, where Jaina swore. The computers had files had been updated. The governor on this place apparently had a brain. Luckily the slave information was considered low profile. She grinned as she started the download.  
A shiver danced down their back as the file clicked finished. Suddenly the door to the computer room opened and storm troopers rushed in, shooting stun blasts.

Jaina dodged as she pulled her lightsaber free, too late to cloak. It was difficult, almost impossible, to cloak in the middle of combat. Another problem with the technique she had now discovered that the Jensaarai had not told them about.

Xander moved just as fast, but instead of dodging he kicked a chair, sending it flying into the path of the stunbolts, shielding him from the first attack as he pulled out his lightsabers and activated the sword and dagger blade, one in each hand. "Surrender now," he said threateningly.

Somehow he had managed to put on his helmet as well. Not even Xander knew how he had managed that trick. The left hand picked the lightdagger, the right hand picked the lightsaber and the right foot kicked the chair. So how did the helm end up on his head? As such thoughts flew through his mind, stood Jaina stood beside him, clicking her helmet visor down.  
She had seen it. Xander, in an incredible combination of Force speed, drew the lightsaber in its double-bladed form in his right hand, put on the helmet with his left hand, and as the hand moved down, he grabbed the lightdagger part of the hilt. Then he activated both blades. All in one motion, to other humans it looked like the helmet suddenly teleported on to his head.

Stormtroopers, never being known for their cooperativeness, switched from stun to kill and opened fire, as they called for reinforcement.

Xander moved first, waving his saber in a coming low and cutting upwards motion on the first storm trooper, cleaving him in half and at the same time cutting of the second trooper's arms. With the Light dagger he parried five blaster bolts in one motion.

Behind him, Jaina also acted. Sending a Force push at the storm troopers and grabbing a pile of steel ball bearings, she used Ballistakinesis to turn them into a deadly rain of missiles, just like a shotgun. The stormtroopers hard armor protected them, but it hurt when the soft part between the armor was hit and before they could gather their wits or stand up, Xander was in front of them. Cut and slash in a single never ending motion and four more stormtroopers were mutilated or dead.

Outside the door they could hear more troopers coming.

Xander was panting for breath. "Let's hurry," he said, trying to cloak. It didn't work. Well, now he knew one weakness to the technique. You had to have calm around you to cloak.

The two rushed out the door. In front and to the right of them were fifty stormtroopers, which was a few too much, but to the left were only ten troopers, perfect. The ten troopers were shooting all that they could, but it was not good enough as the Jedi walked through them, cutting, slashing and stabbing.

"Hurry up!" Xander screamed as the rest started to shoot.

Jaina nodded as they rushed out in full Jedi speed. They were out of the corridor.

"What way?" Xander asked as they entered a crossing.

Jaina, who knew the basic base maps better, frowned. "Left down to the repulsor and walker hanger, the right path leads to the stormtroopers training area and the left to engineering. Right up are officers quarters." she said, looking at the different corridors and elevators.

Xander nodded. "Right, what way DO you think we should go?" he asked.

Jaina frowned again, then looked around, pointing at a tiny opening in the wall. "Droid elevator, it uses a powerful force field to push them up or sideways to where ever they need to go. Humans cannot use them or they get hurt," she said.

Xander frowned. "And?"

Jaina grinned. "Use the Force to protect yourself. The armor does the rest," she said.

Xander nodded. "Where can we go with it?"

Jaina shrugged, "Anywhere."

Xander thought about it. "TIE hangers." he grinned. "Wanton destruction and theft of TIE-Fighters sounds pretty good right about now."

She nodded as she explained what Xander had to do to activate the elevator. It was just a big open shaft, he was held up by an energy field inside it. Pushing the button as he focused himself he was away, twisting and turning as he flew at rocket speed through the base. Quick 90 degree turns almost knocked him out and then he suddenly went from full speed to full stop. He had arrived. Scrambling out, he tried to collected himself.

Nothing was hurt. He did it.

Seconds later, Jaina fell out of the elevator. It took her a minute before she could stand. "That was not good," she said.  
Xander nodded. "Right, never use droid elevators again." he said.

In the base the security was feverishly trying to find them.

They had just collected themselves when security screamed out that the intruders were in the hangar. Xander shrugged as he climbed up on the catwalk and started to run and slash the TIE-Fighter engines as he passed them by. Jaina did the same from the other direction.

Soon out of the 72 active TIE-Interceptors only 2 remained undamaged. It would take at least half a day or more for the techs to repair each fighter from the damage they had done.

The door opened and stormtroopers marched inside. Between the shuttles and heavy equipment in the hangar, they had to split up in smaller groups in order to move around in the room.

Xander moved at the sight. "Ready the fighters and keep the hangar doors from closing. I'm going to have a heart to heart with the guys in white," he said, jumping down and landing softly, thanks to Force jump.

Jaina nodded as she hurried to the hangar doors. It was not easy, but she was better at this then Xander was. This of course made him the logical choice in who would talk to the troopers she smirked.

Diving down, he discovered that these troopers were not those bad fighters, they moved faster and they were stronger than he had expected. In addition, each of them could parry his lightsabers with the armor on their arms.

That was new, but he did not let that stop him as he fought. Fast and controlled, with no fury in his mind, he moved on like a machine, leaving nothing standing in his path. As the troopers were regrouping and calling for backup and heavy weapons, he heard Jaina call him.

She was done. He picked up a stormtroopers arm, still encased in the new type of armor, on his way to the fighter.  
Jaina blinked in surprise, seeing Xander carry the armored arm of a stormtrooper. "Collecting something." he said, amused. This made Jaina curious, as she knew he had to have a good reason for such actions.

As they lifted off with the TIE-Interceptors, the big cannons on the base started to fire. They were built to defend against capital ship attacks or attack against ground moving enemies, not against small one man fighters.

Even so, both of them were lucky to get out of there alive.

**19. 6-1**

Note: Just a short part but tx anyway to Inachis

6-1

The Next day at the meeting point

Lowbacka was back and part of the Enterprise's cargo hold was now stocked with the Andris spice. Rona and Lowy looked at the TIE-Interceptors they had stolen. It was an impressive craft. Four cannons, the speed was incredible and this version even had shields, very wow-worthy indeed. Yet the X-wing was still the better craft.

The news from the mines on the other hand was not good. Of the over 8000 Earth human slaves that had been sent here, only 2 remained. The huge group of slaves bought by one single buyer on Tatooine and Sevarcos was Xander's only real clue on finding and saving his Earth brothers and sisters. The rest were spread out all over the galaxy and space is a very big place, but he had been too late. The slaves on Sevarcos had been Earth soldiers, who were kidnapped by the gate machine. Naturally, Earth's best did not like the idea of digging for their whole life. They had made trouble.

Some hundreds or more had been sold as gladiators to who knew where. Others had been transferred into the darkest and most dangerous mines where the black spice was mined out. That was a death sentence to any slave.  
Jaina petted his shoulder.

Rona looked sad. "I'm sorry, too," she said. They were all alone in space.

His armored gauntlets smashed together. "Let's save what we can and report back to the rest of the gang," he said. "But first." He picked up the storm trooper armor. "They parried my lightsaber with this part. The rest you can cut." he said and then showed her.

Jaina snapped her fingers. "Remember what they said about cortosis minerals?"

Xander nodded. "I remember. You can make fibers that short circuit a lightsaber or you can mix it with steel and get an alloy that's brittle and can easy shatter, but gives almost 100 % protections against lightsabers and blasters."

Rona looked surprised. "Why not use it in the whole armor?" she asked.

Xander grabbed the back of his dagger and smashed it hard in the part protected from lightsabers. The thin plate like part of the armor shattered like glass and fell off, leaving the normal stormtrooper armor underneath visible.

Jaina nodded. "It's too fragile to be used as armor and it's heavier than normal steel, but put a thin protective layer over a chosen part of normal armor and that part can be used for parrying."

Xander mused further. "It's an expensive combination, because it needs barrium to act as a catalyst during the smelting process. Dangerous too, since barrium has a nasty tendency to explode."

Jaina nodded. "Thicker parts of the alloy can be installed on the back or on the side of vibroswords, to give them the ability to parry lightsabers. If it's the back side, then reverse the blade."

Xander continued. "Sometimes they also make vibroswords that look much like a katana. But it's too fragile for making armor plates."

Jaina picked up a thin piece of the alloy. "What they used on the gauntlet is way too thin, only as thick as a paper. Way too thin, but it can still protect against a lightsaber. The question is why they have it here?"

Rona nodded. It sounded like the material had a very limited use. Then she blinked. Why indeed.

Lowbacka growled out that he felt a growing darkness in the Force. Xander and Jaina nodded in understanding. Xander frowned. Yes, he had understood it too. "I can understand Wookiee. Sweet. Take that, translator-mistake."

M-TD, Lowbacka's tiny translator unit, sulked at that. He really did not like that human. "I have updated myself to be fluent in over fifteen different languages and five different forms of military protocol," he said with a wounded voice.

Xander froze, seeing Jaina glaring at him about bullying the droid. "Um. M-td that's actually quite useful and you did it on your own initiative. That is good too. We should talk a bit about what you can and cannot do at some point." Perhaps the tiny-mistake calling itself a translator could become useful, perhaps.

Jaina looked at him proudly, giving M-td a wink. She had helped the poor droid in finding useful updates and burning them into his translator unit, making them a permanent part of the droids skill.

M-TD sounded happy. "Of course sir, an organic can never truly be completely effective unless he can speak or understand what is going on, and a good translator like myself is a treasure to be found."

Lowbacka sighed and turned him off.

*

Later next day

At the entry gate of the black spice mine.

Big security doors, guards, armored droids and cameras and also a nearby space port with a shuttle waiting in case of an emergency.

Jaina frowned. "We have to wait until somebody is entering or leaving. The slaves sleep inside. The moment we remove the slave chip, they will know that one of the slaves is on the loose."

Xander sighed. "One on inside and the others as back up would be wise. Could you prepare that ship for the slaves to use? Lowbacka can help you. When the fight inside starts, create some chaos outside and secure that ship," he said and gave Rona his pistols.

Jaina did not like the idea much, but nodded. "Right, remember to get back alive or I will kill you myself."

Lowbacka frowned and whispered to himself. There seemed to be a storehouse full of spice nearby. Perhaps they could see what was inside, load the shuttle up with Andris and take some black-spice for themselves. It had some medical and military uses after all.

Xander vanished as he entered the guard station. Soon he saw his chance. A guard was entering the mine. He entered behind the guard, using Force flight to minimize his weight in order to fool the weight sensors in the floor. He would have to fight his way back out.

Taking a deep breath inside his helm, he looked around. It was dark and strangely moist as he walked further down into the mine. He had to switch from the Cloak to Force stealth soon or risk draining himself.

He walked around for hours, which felt like weeks, until he found the slave quarters. Slowly engaging the Force cloak again, he entered the room as the slaves went inside to rest. The security was not that good, but now he was locked inside with the slaves.

Two humans, nine Gamoreans, one Duros and fifty different types of aliens that he had no idea about were scattered about the room. Hiding in the last shower booth, the broken one, he relaxed as the aliens entered the room one by one.  
Finally the two humans entered. They where silently soaping themselves when Xander made his move. He used the Force to make the soap jump out and glide on the floor.

"He Riley, you are way too tired." the other said.

The man who had just lost his soap snorted. "Right, do I need to watch my back against you too, Graham?" he said, snorting again as he leaned over in the shower to pick it up.

Suddenly a voice spoke in English. "Pretend to clean your feet." it said. "I'm here to save you both." Xander continued.  
Riley and the nearby Graham both heard the voice and then saw a flicker in the air, just like a Klingon warship decloaking on Star Trek. Then an armored person could be seen moving out from hiding in the shower.

Xander decided to shut off his Force cloak to make them believe him. It seemed to work as both suddenly had a look of hope on their faces again. No, not hope, but focused dedication. Hope had never left these two.

"Tell me everything about the security and then about your room mates." Xander ordered. According to the file, one of them was a traitor and would be freed from the mine after two months. The room had over fifty aliens in it.

Xander nodded after listening to a long, but precise report. "Right, tell only the ones you can trust to stay with you tomorrow." he said, pushing a chip remover into their hands. "The moment the slave chip is gone, the alarms will activate. Tomorrow, as you start to work, use this and pass it along. First do only the ones you can trust, then you can let the rest have it."

They looked at him. "What are you going to do?" Graham Miller asked.

Xander smiled. "Right now? Rest. Tomorrow my partners on the outside are going to take out the gate." He looked at them. "What? You thought I'd come alone to a hostile world like this?" he grinned. The ship was hidden nearby and if Jaina did what Jaina always did, so would be the shuttle craft.

He ignored them as he leaned back, trying to meditate hidden in the broken shower booth. The air was so dry that even with his helmet on he felt dried out. It was moist in the shower booth and he removed the helmet, letting water drip on him before putting it back on again.

He could feel the effects of the black spice creep on him. It had entered his bloodstream somehow. Crap, the breath mask protected his mouth and nose, but not his gills. He had been driving around and standing outside a spice mine without a mask to protect his gills, just a moist cloth.

Xander tried to relax. If he was about to suffer narcosis, he would have had an attack by now, and his helm protected the gills as well. He would have to remember this lesson in the future.

The two enslaved humans from earth continued showering as the Jedi cursed his carelessness.

Soon a small group of twelve slaves huddled together as they often did, talking about other slaves, their problems and the things they needed to protect themselves against, plots to steal more food and dreams of escaping. The security did not care as they started to talk about the unsafe roof in corridor fifteen-ninety-one. Then slowly they shifted and whispered to the others to stay close the next day.


	4. Chapter 4

Note1: As it has happened before 1 to 19 times our thanks for proof reading the story goes to Inachis again *g* 

6-2 

The next day came early and Xander almost fell out of his booth as the alarm screamed out "Morning, breakfast in one minute. Move it."

The slaves jumped up, still in their work clothes, and stood by the door as a guard opened it and escorted them into the cave and away to the slave feeding room. There were over 400 slaves sleeping in different slave quarters, but here they were all together, all eating fast.

Xander looked around and could even see an enslaved Hutt. There must be some kind of irony in that. Wookiees and other beings were there, hundreds of them. Lucky it was a large shuttle.

Then the work started. Xander waited under Force stealth outside the guard quarters, until the alarm screamed out. Each guard gun had an override, which meant that you needed the correct code to use it and every time the weapon changed hands, the code had to be entered or the weapon would deactivate.

They had primitive weapons, a lightning gun that created a blast of a devastating electric charge, fired away in a bolt that exploded on impact, both electrocuting and burning the victim. Isolating the charge wouldn't work that well unless you had a full body armor and even then its armor penetrating power was at half of the original charge.

The real down side with a lightning gun was the ammo or rather, the lack of ammo. It drained energy, yet gave less effect back compared to blasters. A lightning carbine held 40 bolts and a pistol around 8 before reloading was required. A normal blaster pistol could hold 100 bolts of energy. A heavy blaster pistol could hold 25 or 50, depending on the power back. Blaster rifles or carbines held 100 up to 200, depending on the type of gun and power pack, but the lightning gun could be used on Sevarcos, while blasters could not, and just like blasters, he could parry the lightning gun bolts.

Somewhere deep inside, the first slave removed his chip, then the second, the fourth, the ninth and so on and then the alarm broke out. Guards inside the security post grabbed their armor and guns and started to run towards the slaves.  
As they opened the door, something moved towards them, with the speed of a racing swoop, something wearing a green dark yellow armor.

Snap: Hiss. Snap: Hiss.

The being activated two swords of light as he dived into the guards.

With complete surprise he got them all. Fifteen guards lay below him, screaming in pain or just plain dead. Xander sighed. He felt guilty about killing, but he was saving innocents, who these were not. The moment they accepted the work as guards over a slave mine, they agreed to risks just like this, choices and consequences.

The big lightning turret in the roof was the first to explode as Xander had attacked. There would probably be another one by the gate. With the Force he lifted fifty of the guns and put them in a bag, then he carried it down towards Riley and Graham. He could hear shooting between the guards and the hiding slaves, who were using their plasma drills to keep the guards at bay. Four guards and hundreds of slaves were shooting and screaming for re-enforcement. Soon their guns would be empty and then they would be dead.

The sound of an elevator made every one stop.

The guards looked relived, now the slaves would learn that escape was impossible. The door of the elevator opened and an armored person left the cabin, in his right hand was a lightsaber, in the other a big bag full of weapons poking out. He dropped the bag as he walked up to the guards. "Run or die. I don't care," he said.

One guard aimed and shot at Xander, who just waved the lightsaber and sent the bolt back, barbequing the guard. The other three swallowed as the bag started to fly in the air behind the Jedi.

Xander looked at the faces of Riley and Graham. He threw them a note. "The code to make the gun work is this. You two and one more can join us. The rest have a shuttle prepared for you outside, " he said to Riley. "I have to go and open the gate."

He left them as he pushed the elevator to the top floor. The elevator stopped moving suddenly. Someone seemed to think that they were smart. Xander looked around and pushed the button again, nothing. He could hear something like clams or locks being disconnected and the elevator shivered before starting to fall.

With quick slashes of his lightsaber he attacked the roof and then jumped out from the now falling elevator, flying up using Force flight. Under him the explosion from the crashing elevator send dust up in the air. It was actually impressive of them. Most elevators were so secure that making them fall would be impossible.

Above, a lone guard, nursing a lightsaber wound, smiled at the gate. Guards had arrived to help them. "And that was the last of the Jedi" he said. They had all seen that the Jedi was trapped in the moving elevator and making it fall down had taken no more than four seconds.

The other two paled as they stared at the door to the elevator shaft, a pair of lightsabers, one yellow, the other green, were suddenly cutting open a hole. The Jedi had survived and he was angry. They shivered in fear.

Xander was impressed as he walked in, using the round opening he made in the door. Then his feeling changed into amusement. Shivering in fear the guards were holding up their lightning guns. With one wave of the Force he ripped the weapons free from their hands and then pushed them away using Force push. "I let you live, because you impressed me. Impress me again and I will kill you. Now run away," he said, trying to sound like a dark Jedi.  
Apparently it worked. The guards squealed like pigs and ran for their life.

Shrugging Xander walked to the gate.

Five automatic lightning guns started to fire a rain of electro blasts against him. His armor would protect him against all expect a direct hit. Using only his lightsaber he danced through the explosions until he was close enough to use Ballistakinesis to send a rain of deadly pebbles flying at the speed of a gunshot. The cannon seemed to be unaffected.  
Shrugging, he threw his lightdagger. Using the Force to direct it, he cut asunder each of the five cannons, then caught the lightdagger just as the guards opened fire again.

Moving in full Force speed he dived in, dodging, parrying and then attacking the guards. They were not good fighters or well trained, he concluded as the last guard died, but what he really was afraid of was the Imperial forces. If they had gotten stormtroopers in here, they would use the guard door as protection and the cave would become nothing but a shooting alley, with him as the target.

By the time the slaves had shot the rest of the guards and freed the other slaves, he was cutting the armored door open. Turning around he spoke, using the Force to magnify his voice. "Listen. My team has prepared a spice shuttle for your use. Graham, Riley, you come with us. Our own ship has room for the two of you, but no more than that."

He then turned. "As you fly out, try to avoid the Imperial forces that will attack you. My team will drive the TIE-Fighters off and we will also give you the medical information you need. Working in this mine has made each of you spice addicted."

There were mumbled sounds of anger. "A combination of Andris and calming medication will remove the addiction in less than two months. We have Andris in the cargo hold. Enough for each of you." he said. Better too much then too little, besides they could sell the rest to the Mon-Calamari.

A roar of gratitude was heard. He glared at the Hutt. He wanted to leave that snail to rot just on principle. Instead he said. "Most Hutt move slow, see that someone is beside him the whole time and let nothing distract you from moving as fast as possible."

The Hutt nodded in gratitude, the Jedi was concerned about his safety. "I can be of more use then you know. Lightning guns do not kill us. Just hurt, like being streaked by a whip. Our skin absorbs the electric explosion and heat perfectly," it said.

Xander nodded. "Alright if you can do that without being hurt, then the two of us move first. The rest of you can use us as a mobile shield. If the Hutt overestimated his skins protection, help him move."

The slaves nodded and the Hutt crawled up next to him, holding a lightning repeater rifle. Side by side they crawled towards the gate.

Guards on the other side were fighting a battle on two fronts. Jaina, Lowbacka and Rona were shooting and attacking them in close combat. The Hutt was right, the lightning guns electric charge did not explode on impact, instead his skin and body absorbed the explosion and electric charge. It seemed to bring the Hutt great pain, far more pain than a whip would do, but he struggled on.

Soon one of the other slaves took over the lightning gun as the Hutt was moving, but twitching too much to shoot. Even Xander used the Hutt as a living shield for a short moment before pushing the attack forward.

Finally they were outside. The guards were falling back.

The 400 slaves moved, with the Hutt as a living shield, to the Shuttle.

Xander was impressed despite himself. "I am Jedi Knight Xander Harris. What is your name Hutt?" he yelled.

The Hutt answered. "Durga the Hutt. Once I am free, come to Nal Hutta and you will be rewarded." he yelled back. There would be blood spilled. The Black Sun had, in an ambush on his ship, imprisoned him here while pretending to be on more friendly terms. Once he told the other Hutts about this treason, there would be a crime war between the two ruling factions of the criminal underworld.

Lowbacka roared out to hurry up, holding his lightsaber in one hand and a big heavy lightning repeater, with a back pack generator able to hold over 1000 charges, in the other. A blaster backpack generator the same size could hold more than 6000 blast charges.

Rona was holding a lightning carbine, which she was firing in a rapid mode towards the protected position of the guards. Around her jacket hung a rope with power packs hanging from it for quick reload, she looked like a short dark-skinned young Rambo. Xander giggled at the sight.

Riley and Graham frowned. That was the rescue? Where was the ship they would use? A roar of powerful engines silenced them, as the Enterprise suddenly appeared, charging down from the sky. R3 made a perfect landing.

Xander barked at the escaping slaves. "Hurry up. Enemies are incoming."

Jaina climbed inside her X-wing. "I'll be waiting for you," she said, lifting off.

Xander quickly pushed R3 out of the way. "I'm sorry and thanks R3, you are a treasure. By the way, I asked if Jaina could find you a back up memory and she did. If you like, she can install it in you later," he said to the droid.

The droid beeped happily at that.

Xander laughed. "No little guy. Jaina is better at droids then I am, but if you insist, I can install it into you."  
R3 seemed to consider the idea, but beeped a confirmation. Jaina could do it.

A roar from the lower turret was heard, Lowbacka wanted to lift off.

Rona nodded from the top gun turret. "Let's lift off then," she yelled.

Xander chugged. "Do not be hasty," he said, pushing the last buttons. The shields were fully charged and so were the guns. He was ready for a fight. Then Riley and Graham suddenly burst inside and sat down, Riley in Jaina's seat. "Off course you can enter. Just do not disturb me," he said sarcastically.

Then he frowned at Riley. "Remove your hands or you'll turn the sensors off," he said, slightly panicked. "I do NOT want to fly blind into battle," he snapped in irritation to Riley, who removed his hands from where they had rested on the control board. It was full of levers, buttons, sticks and other gizmos that he had no idea what they could be.

Then the Enterprise lifted off.

With his headset on, Xander had Jaina on frequency 1, Lowbacka on 2, Rona on 3, both Lowbacka and Rona on 4 and all of them on 5. R3 was logged in the communication control, handling the radio and sensors. He rocketed off the planet. 

-KA. 

"Incoming," Xander spoke on frequency 5 meaning that the entire team could hear him. "I see 12 Squints and no eye-balls in the atmosphere, coming in high, aiming at me and the shuttle. X-wing, dance with the Shuttle, I dance by myself."

Jaina's voice came in through the speakers. "What? You don't think I'm sexy anymore?" she whined as she moved over to cover the big-boy. The long range shuttle was bigger than the Enterprise, but probably had shorter legs on it. (Shorter legs = Shorter time in space before landing was needed.)

Xander rolled his eyes, as he rolled the ship and opened fire with the twin auto-blaster. The pair of light, but extremely fast cannons would probably not even hurt the interceptor, especially with its shields, but they would wear the shields down and all he needed was one lucky shot. Each hit with them made it easier for his 2 quads of laser cannons to hit the TIE-interceptors. They worked like a laser sight that could kill.

The 12 interceptors paired up, 4 attacked him and the rest attacked the shuttle and Jaina. That was not acceptable. The targeting computers showed the lock on as he pulled the trigger. He fired one Concussion missile on a TIE-Interceptor.

In space the fighter could have dodged or even out-maneuvered the missile with skill and a bit of luck. In the atmosphere the fighters' maneuverability was more limited. It exploded and the shockwave pushed the other three fighters out of control, as even his ship was rocked by the explosion.

"Fucking hell, are we hit?" Graham yelled. Riley Finn shook his head. "I don't know, just a big explosion outside," he said.  
Xander ignored them as he dived between the fighters. Using frequency 4 to speak to both Rona and Lowbacka, he said, "Two Squints coming low and the other is coming in high, make it fast."

The two gunners opened fire as fast as possible. A rain of fire from the two quads of cannons was breaking loose.  
Rona yelled with excitement. "Hell yes!" she screamed as her interceptor was turned to a burning ball of fire.

Lowbacka growled out "Beginners luck" as he too put a Tie-Interceptor out of the battle by blowing out its wing and sending it down to the ground. The last TIE on his side exploded as it turned the wrong way.

He grinned. That shot should have missed, but the TIE-Pilot dodged the wrong way. He roared his success.

Xander nodded as he jumped in to help Jaina. Of her eight fighters only four remained. In atmosphere the X-wing was so superior compared to the TIE, that she outclassed them by a mile. Even then they were good and did manage to get a near hit on her fighter. Her shields were recharging and she could see a burn mark on the wing. Her sensors translated the close presence of a big powerful transport too, as with an angry roar as the Enterprise entered close combat with the TIE-Interceptors bugging her.

"I love my fiancé," she noted as she drained the cannons to recharge the shield before joining him in combat. The three ships shot up into space.

Xander was nervous. These pilots were good. "We have incoming. 60 squints closing in, coming in from the asteroid fields." he said. The asteroid fields, he frowned these pilots were actively patrolling the asteroid fields. No wonder they were good.  
Switching his com over to the shuttle: "Leave the TIE's to us and run like the Sith's were after you." That was what he and Jaina were planning on doing.

Riley babbled nervously. "Did he sound scared? He did, right? That's not good, is it? It's never good when the fly boys sound scared."

Graham nodded. "That was what they said during basic training." he wisely replied.

Xander had enough. "Would you two wise guys either shut up or help?" he growled at them.

Riley was puzzled. "Help how?" he asked.

Xander pointed at the switch board. "Turn the second and lower of the blue switches. Then grab the stick. Use the top button to fire. That's a twin auto-blaster, it's used like a laser sight. Each time you hit an enemy, the sensor will improve the targeting-computer and gunners chance to hit. Remember, you can also kill an enemy with the auto-Blaster."

Riley was about to ask how he could see the enemy when the front screen suddenly blinked and small boxes in red and two in green were seen. "I get it. The red is the enemy and green are friends." he said.

Xander nodded. "Correct, remember the pair of auto blaster are strong enough so that they can destroy a normal TIE-Fighter. The Interceptors hull and shield makes it almost impossible. So use it as a targeting aid."

Riley nodded as he started to fire. Sometimes quantity was better than quality as each hit gave a distinct echo on the sensor, an echo the targeting computers could lock on to. The battle was joined.

The interceptors moved like a well oiled machine, blaster bolts raining down on them as they dodged and fired back. With two quads of heavy laser cannons, one double auto-cannon and two missile launchers on the Enterprise alone, they were a murder in space.

With the X-wings superior ability to maneuver, the hull, the shields and weapons vs. the TIE-Interceptors superior speed and numbers, it was not a fair fight. They had 60 elite pilots against them, but they were not planning on staying. This was more of a distraction before leaving.

Dodging in the asteroid field with TIE-Interceptors after them, Jaina and Xander were flying for their life. Nine minutes later, which felt like five years, Xander arrived outside the asteroid field and was free to jump.

The shuttle was actually there before them. "Ready for first jump," Xander said holding up his thump. The Enterprise had gotten some nasty burns. Real nasty burns. The next improvement would have to be military grade hull armor like on the Falcon. Then the three ships vanished into hyperspace.

Behind them the elite team of TIE-Interceptors returned to base. Nine fighters had been lost to the enemy in space and twelve in the atmosphere. Ordering them to fly against an X-wing inside the atmospheric soup had been idiotic.

Inside the Enterprise, Rona crawled down from the gun turret. That had been intense; she could smell something burning inside the Enterprise and R3 was putting out the fire. As she landed near Lowbacka she wondered if she was the only potential Slayer in this galaxy. When she was in New York THAT day, she was on her way to a school, a special school the Watchers owned, full of potential Slayers. Shrugging, she let the thought go. She had needed Xander and Jaina's help to access her powers, so perhaps they did not know that they were Slayers.

*

At the same time far away.

Amanda pushed the Sullustan against the wall of the building. "You said what? Listen creep. Either you get me the slave-control unit or I rip of your head," she said in bad basic. Her blue eyes glittered dangerously and her face was hidden by her long brown hair.

The Sullustan felt like crying. If he had only picked the more expensive control unit instead of the cheap one, he gave the girl the unit quickly.

Amanda snorted as she grabbed the unit and shoved it in her pocket before slamming the creep into the floor so hard it made an imprint. Standing behind the wall, holding a hand over her aching shoulder, was Chloe. "Did you get it?" she asked in English. Amanda nodded. "Here" she said, pushing the pain-off button. Chloe sighed in relief. "I got his guns," she said.

Both of them were now free. Pocketing the money they moved out. "So what do you think happened to us?" Amanda asked. Chloe shrugged. Both of them had become stronger, not extremely strong, but what had changed was the fact that they were healing faster, much faster than normal, and their tolerance for pain was through the roof kid of high. "We are not super strong, so we're not Slayers, but we heal fast, so perhaps part of our blood line is active," she guessed.

Walking out into the foggy street of the planet Oryon, they made their way to the space port. Two gorgeous girls like them would always find a lift, even if it was with a creep.

Unseen by them, a dark shape removed himself from the shadows. Jedi Master Skywalker sensed something new and even if he had enemies on this planet, he could sense help was on its way and that those two were strange.

*

At the same time on a different planet.

The young girl bowed her head, fanatic joy burned in her eyes as she spoke. "Lord Mandalore, I bow before you as I take up my armor as a sister warrior."

Lord Mandalore, formerly known as Bobba Fett, nodded. Even being over 70 years old, Bobba Fett was an impressive man who could defeat warriors more than half his age. "You have earned the right by combat to call yourself a Mandalorian warrior sister Dana."

Dana took the helmet and put it on as she turned around "I am Dana, a warrior of the Mandalore. Will somebody challenge me?" she said in the tradition of her new people.

Bobba looked on, as the new warrior was adopted as one of them. Dana had been nothing, but a psychotic mess of abuse when they found her, by pure luck. The slavers had sold the girl to them after telling them how strong she was. During testing they found out that she was perhaps up to six times as strong as she should be for short moments. Normally somebody her size should be around twice as strong.

Doctors and healers had spent months trying to heal her psychotic mind. Eventually, with the help of an empath and a judicious use of drugs, they helped her forget and heal. Once she was healed, her real memory returned slowly to her. Now Dana was no longer insane. Most of the memory that had made her that way was locked away until she felt she could handle them.

Bobba's years as a bounty hunter did make him recognize something. The girl used the Force, not like a Jedi, but even so.

Dana used it completely internally to heal and to run faster and longer and also to be stronger. With his training the girl was around four times as strong then a normal girl her size. For short moments she could enter a stage of super strength, doubling her normal strength. Her healing was as good as a Jedi healing trance, almost regenerative. She could improve her own sense of sight, hearing, smell and even taste. What Dana did not know was that they had stolen her egg cells, impregnated them using the seed of the best warrior they could find and now fifteen Children of Dana were growing and would be born in nine months.

On the floor the fifteen year old strutted around in her first armor. She was a good fighter. Her skill in using long distance weapons was incredible. Even he was impressed. Give her a year or two and she would be better than he was. Give her four years and she would be superior to the long dead Gallandro, the best gunslinger in the galaxy. Who was dead because he shot Han Solo in the legs, in a room filled with automatic blaster cannons which were programmed to kill anybody using weapons.

Perhaps he should clone her.

End of Chapter 6

**21. 7-0**

Note: Tx again to Inachis she even worked hard on 1st May to help get you a new chapter.

7-0

The fog lifted as the Enterprise landed. It was a sight. Burn marks over its whole hull, even a hole in the hull. The Mon calamari shivered. Whatever that ship had been through, it had been a real fight and it was a wonder that they survived.  
Han Solo hoped for Xander's sake that Jaina was alive. He'd really hate to kill the guy. From the look of the burn marks, they had been in a fight against TIE-Interceptors. How many he wasn't sure, but the kid was good, so probably a squadron.

Leia gasped at the sight. It looked worse than she had expected. She was happy being force-sensitive, thanks to that she knew Jaina was alive and unhurt.

Chewbacca roared out a question.

Han shrugged. "I don't know. Why are you asking me?" "The big furball wants to know whether he's going to rip of  
Xander's arms or if Jaina is alive and unhurt."

Leia smiled. "She is unhurt and extremely happy, for some reason."

Han grinned at that. "Hey, she's happy because now she's going to see her mom and her favorite dad. What else makes a young girl happy?"

Chewbacca roared out.

Han shook his head. "No, I do not think uncle Chewie is making her happy. You smell buddy. I told you to take a bath and they have the shampoo you like. But you said no, the engine has to be checked. I could have done that."

Anakin nodded. "Uncle Chewie you do smell. A shower in the morning doesn't hurt."

Jacen agreed. "Wookiee can be such cry babies about wet fur." He knew that from both Chewbacca and Lowbacka.

Chewbacca groaned as he roared out his indignation. He didn't wish Lowbacka to brag about how good HE took care of the  
Enterprise. No way. Better smelly than humiliated and it took hours to dry the fur after a shower.

The discussion was interrupted by the new arrivals exiting the ship.

Jaina ran out like a bullet fired from a gun. "Mom, Dad, Jacen, and Anakin." she screamed as she hugged them "Uncle Chewie uuuu you stink." she said, trying to force the big Wookiee to stop hugging her.

Behind her Rona and Xander walked out. Xander did look nervous.

Jaina's smile could have lit the hangar. "Mom, Dad. Xander asked me to marry him."  
Han's eyes narrowed, while Chewbacca growled out something dangerous.

Han growled. "I shoot him, you rip off his arms." he said menacingly.

Leia and Jaina turned on the duo. "You will do no such thing!" they said in perfect unison. Both Chewbacca and Han hanged their heads at that.

Chewbacca sniffed, remembering the innocent young human child hanging in his fur. Now she was an adult and soon she would have pubs of her own.

Walking up from behind, Luke leaned on Mara as he came. "The boy works fast." Mara said. Luke could only nod. "Sense that girl?"

Mara nodded. "She feels like Amanda and Chloe." she said in an amazed tone of voice.

*

Later in the house

Luke told them about his mishap. With the X-wings hyperdrive not working, he had been forced to sneak a lift on a cargo ship. They had ended up far away from where he wanted to go and four ships later and five planets closer he found trouble. "The shadow academy is back. It seems like one of Brakis Dark Jedi have found a new sponsor among the New Republic. But in reality the true master is among the Empire's remains and the Sith's are also back. I believe Dark Lady Lumiya is their leader." He sighed.

Xander frowned. "Who is Lady Lumiya?" he asked. Luke sighed in sadness over the past.

Leia snorted out loud. "Shira Bree, decorated rebel hero and part of Rogue Squadron. It all happened during a Rogue Squadron mission. Luke and the Rogues were flying TIE fighters as part of a plan to infiltrate an Imperial base. Then a TIE fighter flew in attacking and he, sensing the attack, responded. Luke returned fire and the enemy TIE was crashed." she explained. "Later from the flight recorder we found out that it was Shira Bree's TIE that Luke had destroyed. It looked bad for Luke, but he and Chewie found evidence that proved that Shira was an agent of the Emperor and her mission during the TIE operation was to shoot down Luke."

Han nodded. "What they don't tell you is that Shira played Luke like a fiddle. They were a pair and Luke loved her."

Xander twitched. "Ouch."

Luke nodded. "Years before you were born, she returned as the dark Lady of Sith Lumiya. Using a Force whip she defeated me. I survived by falling into a river. Returning to save my friends, I had to use a Shoto or lightdagger. While a lightwhip is weaker than a lightsaber, fighting one without a second Light-blade is difficult. Only something a real master should try."  
Mara Jade nodded. "A Light whip consists of a long flexible line that you project a coherent beam of energy into. The flexible line makes it move just like a whip."

Xander nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds like a version of the lightfoil." That too had a thin string that projected an energy field around it.

Luke nodded. "It is, because they have a physical material in the heart of the blade or whip. A foil or a whip is unable to have the same cutting power a lightsaber has, but the lightwhip is around 4-6 meter long and the glowing energy can cut anybody. It can also capture and snare a lightsaber. Thanks to the projector in the Centrum, I am unsure if cortosis affects it." He looked at them. "Jaina, Jacen and Lowbacka, each of you will build a Shoto as a backup weapon. If faced against an enemy using a lightwhip, use the Shoto to capture the whip and the lightsaber to cut off part of the whip. Then go in close and fight."

Xander nodded. "You wouldn't happen to have a whip lying around, so we could train against one?" he said hopefully.  
Luke nodded. "I repaired her old whip. If you like, we can later have a go at it."

Mara reminded them of the dangers. "Lady Lumiya is nasty and powerful. She was genetically engineered to be faster, stronger and to heal faster than a normal human. Combined with cybertech and her power in the Force, she is deadly." she sighed. "If you can avoid her, do so. "

Luke nodded. "Right, that's Lumiya. There is more bad news, I'm afraid. The Republic has lost the Correlian sector. It has declared itself independent. We have many free sectors suddenly claiming independence and the Imperial remains have also come out from hiding upon seeing this."

He looked at them all. "I suspect that in less than a year, war will break out in the galaxy again, a big civil war."

Xander nodded. "And we, the Jedi, have to find a side and join them."

Luke nodded, but also added. "That will not be as easy as it sounds. The Jedi are dispersed and not very well coordinated  
at the moment." he said sadly.

Xander glared at him. "Then you know your first mission. Call a freaking club meeting, a conclave or something, just you and the more experienced Jedi-masters. To discuss the problem and just discuss it, then let them chew on the problem for a while. After that, have a second conclave where the heir of the Republic is chosen."

Mara grinned. "And that's the idea Luke and I had last night." she said.

Xander blushed as Luke laughed. "Good to know that some of you kids have the guts to speak your mind. But honestly, even if they do come, it's not going to be easy to convince all of them to join one side."

Han nodded. "But like we said last night, just as long as you get most of them, the rest will follow."

Leia nodded. "What I want to know is about Chloe, Amanda and Rona." she said.

The three girls leaned forward. Finally the discussion was heading somewhere interesting.

Xander sighed as he explained how potential Slayers were called by the Slayer spirit. "These girls are all of the Slayer blood line and unlike in my birth universe, where the Slayer spirit has only the power to activate one Slayer at the time, the Force has the power to activate all of them at the same time."

Han nodded. "So they're Slayers then?"

Xander shook his head. "No, absolutely not."

Amanda was infuriated by that. "Why not?" she roared out.

Xander faced her down. "I have worked side by side with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I worked with Kendra until she died. I know Slayers." he said. "Let me show you." he added.

And to everybody's surprise he slammed his fist in Amanda face. "Evidence one. You got a bruise."  
Amanda reared up again. "What the hell" she said, but Rona pushed her down. "Listen." she said.

Xander nodded. "I said you got a bruise, to give a real Slayer a bruise, I would have to use a steel girder. I've seen Buffy being hit by a truck and just minutes later she was up running." he said and then grinned. "Evidence two. Your bruises are healing, but slower than a Slayer would."

Luke interrupted. "You do remember that you are stronger than normal, yes?"

Xander nodded. "I know. But a vampire is about 4 times faster and stronger. Buffy and Kendra both had vampires hit them in the face without a single mark."

Luke nodded. "More then." he prodded.

Xander continued. "Well, the last part is a bit difficult to prove. But in strength, Rona with training seems to level out at 4 times the normal strength and speed. For short moments I got her to move and show strength which doubled that." He looked at them. "Buffy is much faster and stronger than that."

Han frowned. "That's good, hard to measure, but good."

Xander nodded. "And that's why I hurt Amanda. It's hard evidence that I could measure. I have seen Buffy and Kendra get hurt. I know how fast they heal. Faster than I did, that's for sure."

He leaned back. "Their agility seems to be similar. Reflexes are similar too, maybe even the same."  
Then he grinned mischievously. "How you eat, the same. Buffy could eat more in one sitting than two adult males could. A healthy strong Slayer needs more food than a normal girl. But a Slayer can also somehow survive on half as much food than a normal human for a long time, according to the Watcher journals. A Slayer just becomes weaker, give a Slayer food again and poof, in a matter of weeks she's back in shape. Your need of food seems to be the same and so does the survival without lots of food."

Chloe frowned. "How do you know that?" she asked.

Xander shrugged. "The way you two eat, like you are worried that somebody is going to steal it. I suspect they were starving you, yet you recovered fast, right?"

Amanda nodded reluctantly at that. "Took us a month to get our strength back" she growled out.

Xander nodded again, "A difference, but yet similar. Then come the senses, hitting a Slayer using slow moving missiles, like daggers and even crossbow arrows, is almost impossible. They just catch them in the hand, shoot guns at them and they'll dodge. It doesn't matter, if a vampire attacks from the front or the back during combat, as long as it's in combat, the Slayer seems to have a complete feel of the surrounding area in battle."

He looked at them. "Rona had to be trained to catch fast moving objects with her hands and she can only do it, if she sees them coming."

He took a deep breath. "Then come the dreams, all Slayers have dreams of the future and about the past, former Slayers and much more. Then we come to other abilities. The skills: A Slayer has natural instincts in combat. The skills of generations of past Slayers are carried over, giving a new Slayer an incredible level of skills that only improves with experience. What they do not know or have past-skills on, they learn fast."

He gave them a smile as he said: "You do not have that, but you seem to be able to learn fast and Amanda, your bruise is already healed, at the same speed as a Jedi using a healing trance."

He grinned. "You do seem to have improved protection against mind-control and the ability grows stronger as you grow stronger. That is an ability that seems to be stronger in you than in a normal Slayer."

Luke nodded. "Of course, some Jedi are more advanced in that skill and some are less. Others are from species that have advanced healing which the healing trance improves."

Chloe nodded. "So what are we if we are not Slayers?"

Xander took a deep breath. "I believe you are mutated Slayers, the new Force guardians."

There was silence.

Leia was amazed. "Force guardian?" she said.

Xander nodded. "Slayers seem to have a need for protecting humans. In Rona that seems to be a need to protect her friends and innocents. She gets nervous around individuals that in the Force reek of an urge to cause hurt for fun."

Jaina nodded. While freeing the slaves from the spice mines, they had discovered and freed some beings like that and they frustrated Rona. She did not know why, but she distrusted them something awful.

Luke was silent for a while before speaking. "So, Force guardians then." He looked at the gang. "Then I believe you know what you should be doing, don't you Xander?"

Xander frowned in puzzlement. "Um marry Jaina?" he asked lamely. "Um Marry Jaina and repair the Enterprise? What? Give me a hint here."

Luke drained his cup. "Why, you should be training the Force guardians."

Xander glared at him. "You are evil, absolutely evil." He looked at Amanda. "I'm sorry about hitting you, but I needed  
physical evidence that you could all see and I am sorry that you had to physically feel it as Luke the evil master mind said. After I'm married, Jaina and I are going on a honeymoon. Being the local expert in Force guardians, formally known as Slayer, I expect that the evil master would demand that I start your lessons directly. Correct?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. Besides, I would feel safer if you had backup with you on your honeymoon. The Republic, as well as the darksiders, is gunning after us."

Jaina nodded. "It's going to be fine."

Xander nodded. "Well, I need a place to repair the Enterprise. I might as well remove one hangar and restore the 10 passenger berths the original design had." He looked up. "I don't believe I'm going to be carrying more starfighters then yours, darling."

Jaina nodded. "But passengers we might. And with the two TIE-Interceptors mark 2, we can afford the rebuild." she said.  
Jacen, who had finally found himself a new X-wing, felt like crying hearing that. Anakin, who had found out about the TIE-Interceptors felt the same.

Han Solo nodded. "But where to go?" he said frowning. Damn it. "Lando Calrissian. HE and his wife Tendra Rissant Calrissian are at Sluis Van at the ship yards. They've started a small luxury ship yard over there."

Xander blinked. "You are talking about that Lando?" Jaina nodded. "Uncle Lando. He's always creating something big and expensive." she said.

It was thanks to Tendra that he was rich. Lando had become rich and then gone poor again more times than anybody she ever knew about, but he always had the luck to create a new source of riches for himself. Thanks to Tendra's care he was able to keep whatever he had created and create more, before the urge to build something new attacked him or something's did.

"Luke, we wanted a Jedi to marry us, but Xander asked if you could stand by his side as his best man. So could you get Kyle or Corran to do the ceremony?"

Jacen started at that. "Hey, why not me as best man?" Lowbacka growled beside him.

Xander sighed. "Jacen, Lowbacka, you both are my best friends. But Luke, he saved me when I was new in this universe. Hell, he helped me get the bounty for the shipload of spice that was hidden inside the Enterprise when I got to Yavin." He frowned. "Right. That reminds me that we have a shipload of Andris spice to sell."

Leia nodded as she, Mara and Han continued talking about Lando. "He would do good work." she smiled. "And Sluisi is neutral in the conflict."

Amanda spoke up. "So when are we going to get the training?" she asked. Chloe frowned at that. "Do we even want to get training?" she asked.

Xander shrugged. "To survive, the training would help you. I'm going to get a tutor droid to teach you everything else you need. From math to basic, Rona will be joining you in that." he said. "As for the physical parts and accessing your powers, both of us are going to help you with that during the journey. Most of the sparring is going to be against me, Jaina, Lowbacka or each other."

Last he said as he looked at them. "I'm not going to teach you to become a warrior. If you want to become a warrior, you'll have to learn that yourself. We are going to teach you how to live and survive anywhere."

He looked at them sharply. "But it's not only me that's going to teach you. Luke and Mara are going to help us, as they have experience with teaching. I'm too new and still learning myself. Jaina is also too young."

Luke nodded. "I have already put together a study package for Amanda and Chloe to learn from." He smiled. "A tutor droid is an excellent investment. Xander, do see that it is multitalented in the more practical skills." he reminded Xander.

*

Later

Riley Finn frowned. With him on the Enterprise were Graham, two girls around 16 years of age, Rona, Jaina, Xander, the walking furball called Lowbacka and Anakin, a nice 14 year old younger brother to Jaina. It was a tight fit and they had put extra sleeping beds in the empty hangar.

The rest of the gang was on the Falcon and, knowing that his older brother and girlfriend, mom and dad were all over there and that his Uncle with his wife and baby flew in their own ship "The Jade", Riley could understand why Anakin had chosen to join them.

As long as you dealt with the overcrowded state, the Enterprise was a fun ship to travel in. His and Graham's spice addiction was slowly being cured by replacing it with Andris spice. It sucked that he had become addicted to a drug, even if it wasn't his doing, but the mine was full of the stuff and only death would have stopped his lungs from turning him into an addict.

The perfect excuse every lazy drug addict was searching for. It wasn't my fault. Perhaps becoming an addict had not been his fault, but having the strength to remove his addiction would be his responsibility and failure in doing so his fault.

He could already see the effects of the spice. The white of his eyes were grey white now and he was stronger. His muscles were more developed and in better shape than they had ever been in his life. Black spice gave the user strength. It was actual cool, the way it improved the body. But during the night when the shivers started, when he felt the need for more spice, when he could kill, even murder, for more, that's when he hated the stuff. Andris removed the edge of that need, thankfully.

It was still there, but growing weaker each day. According to Xander, it would be there the rest of his life, always a weak need of more black spice. He was down to one dose of Andris each day now.

Graham, the crazy stubborn never give up asshole, was forcing himself to take one dose every second day. By the time he took his dose, he was shivering, trembling and in a bad mood. Nobody wanted to be near him by then. But his method worked, he forced his body to adapt to a life without drugs faster and faster. He held up his dose. "I'm going to start doing the same thing Graham is doing. Give it to me tomorrow, same time." he said to Xander, the only healer on the ship.  
Xander nodded. "Will do" he said.

*

A month later

Luke and Mara sent a message to the Harpes sector, to privately invite a representative of the royal court unless crown princess Tenel-ka could join them. They suspected that the court would not let their princess go, unless they had a backup in reserve. (Backup in reserve = Younger sister or brother)

Training the girls was fun. They were strong minded girls who never gave up. Being transported and having to survive as slaves burned away any spoiling that might have been left over from their previous lives. Yet you could see that Amanda came from a poor home, she had not had much luxury to grown up with until the Watchers had picked her up. She was 17 years old now, 16 when she was forced away from Earth. There wasn't much innocence left in her heart. It had been broken by her experience, yet she clung to the side of good, wanting things to get better and help others.

Chloe was different. She had once been spoiled at home, where she was a beloved child. Her mother and father both had family connections with the Watchers, so they let her train and learn from them. She still had a home and was spoiled whenever they could get away with it, which was often. Then it happened, she was not even 14 when she vanished from Earth. Now at 15 she was a different girl, tough as nails and yet with a streak of innocence that never gave away. Amanda had decided that she was under her protection.

Anakin, being fifteen in a month, was amazed by the girl's ability to fight. He himself had a little Jedi girlfriend already, but nothing serious. From the look of things, he really was not that serious about any girl yet. But he did like and was intimidated by Chloe.

Lowbacka growled out to Amanda, before sending his fist out in a crushing motion. The young girl dodged, all she could do was to try and kick the young Wookiee in the leg. She could have kicked a stone pillar and it would have worked better.  
Lowbacka just kicked back, ignoring the tiny mouse poking him in the legs. He slammed his fist down on her shoulder, making her fall down, even though he was holding back quite a lot.

Xander shook his head. "No, no. Wait, Lowbacka, Amanda, back down, both of you." He sat down beside Amanda. "What happened?" he asked. Beside him Lowbacka leaned over, putting his big, but soft hand on her shoulder, giving her a massage to lessen the pain.

Amanda frowned in frustration. "I, I just lost the contact." she said. It was like at first she was moving faster than ever, four times, maybe five times faster, then poof, it was gone.

Xander nodded. "That happened to Rona too. Alright, let's get you up again. Never end a fight lying down or sitting down. Always see that you are among the fighters who are standing up. That way you will not end up with a bad habit of ending the fight not standing."

Amanda giggled. "Alright" she said, standing up.

Xander grinned. "Right, now feel it inside of you." he instructed. She nodded. "Right now, let's fight." he said, backing down.

Lowbacka roared out encouragement, making those not knowing Wookiees feel intimidated. The two started to fight again. This time she was holding it. "Stop," Xander called. "Excellent. Now Amanda, try to keep onto your connection. That will speed up your healing."

Letting her end a fight while she still had the strength to hold on did miracles for the girls trust in themselves. He turned to Rona and Chloe. "Right you two, now it's your turn. Remember Rona, holding back too much will only hurt or kill Chloe in the future. She needs to learn."

Chloe swallowed. Rona smiled smugly.

Xander nodded. "Right, find your connection to the Force. Hold it and feel it filling you. Now on three, 1,2,3." he said as the two girls started to fight.

Jaina walked up to him, observing the fight. "You are good." she said.

Xander shrugged. "You and Lowbacka gave me the ideas. You and me after they are done."

She nodded. "Would you like to do a team exercise with the remotes?" she asked. To her surprise, Xander frowned at that.

"Let's do it with a twist. Let Anakin and Lowbacka join us and we use nine remotes instead of fifteen."

Jaina first wondered why before realizing what he was after. Teamwork, it would help them with their teamwork if they had to work as a team. "Great idea, I'll ask them."

Xander roared at the fighting pair. "STOP, Rona are you alright?"

Rona shook her head. "Yeah." she said, frowning. Why did she see two Xander's?

Xander shook her head in amusement. "Well, I do believe Miss Chloe has mastered this part of the exercise." he said. This was interesting. Rona was better at using her improved physical speed and strength than the other two, but they had trained her longer. Her real skill was in learning martial arts. Any physical skill from dancing too fighting, they had to show her no more than once and she could do it. He suspected her strength and speed was about 4 times that of a normal human.

Chloe learned to keep her connection to the Force up faster than the others. Her healing was good, but not as good as Amanda or Rona, and she also learned skills slower than Rona did. He wasn't sure, but it seemed like she had some extra sensory ability after all.

Chloe had yet to level out, but he knew she would end up 2-3 times stronger and faster, no more. Her defense against telepathy and the defense against mind control were stronger than Rona's. During a fight it was even difficult to detect her future movements in the Force.

Amanda's ability to improve her senses and physical strength, speed, even healing, was through the roof. She would end up 5-6 time as strong as a normal human and she was learning how to adapt to improve her physical abilities faster than the other two as well. But her ability to keep her power active sucked. She was also slower than the others in learning martial arts. Her defense against mind attack was the weakest.

They all could, for short moments, super boost their own abilities to become twice as strong and fast. In Amanda's case, that was a scary sight.

Now what the hell did Chloe do that made Rona fall that hard. He used a Jedi memory enhancement trick to replay his memory, seeing if he spotted the move she made. Right, there it was. Chloe moved her hand into the right position, BEFORE Rona's head began moving to that place. Precognition, the core that gave Jedi the ability to parry blaster bolts.  
Oh' boy. That could mean just one thing. Wouldn't it?

*

Later in the evening

Riley and Graham were shivering of in their addiction fever.

Xander called. "Girls, come here" he said. They ran over and like one said "Yes, Master Xander, what do you wish?" trying to hide their giggles.

Jaina giggled at that. "Master Xander?"

Xander rolled his eyes. "Just Xander, now sit down." he said.

"I have been studying your powers and they all seemed to be similar, but each of you has different strengths and weaknesses." he began, looking them over.

"Amanda. You have super strength and you're almost twice as strong and fast as Chloe. Your senses are sharper and stronger than those of the others. You are strong and fast. Your weakness is in learning to access that strength and learning the skills to use them as a warrior."

He turned to Rona. "You pick up skills in fighting, martial arts and dancing perfectly. Show you once and you know how to do it. It's pure Slayer speed. But your other powers and senses are only average, for a guardian. At least I suspect that they are."

He then turned to Chloe. "You on the other hand pickup how to connect to the Force perfectly. Right now, like Rona, you are already constantly connected, but your physical powers seem only to be 2-3 times of the normal strength and speed. Unlike the others, you seem to have esp. Precognition. When you hit Rona, your hand started to move before she moved her head to the position."

They all looked at each other. Then Amanda spoke dejectedly. "What? I'm worthless? Is that what you're saying?"  
Xander shook his head vehemently. "No. I'm saying that each of you have different levels of power. Yours lies in super strength and super speed. Rona's is to learn a skill at super speed. Chloe is using extra sensory ability as well as mind defense."

Amanda seemed calmer. "Right, so what are you saying then?"

Xander smiled. "I'm saying you should focus on learning to fight correctly. Rona should try to become stronger and faster or see if she too can learn ESP. Chloe, your powers are awesome, you have stronger mind defense then the other two have, but teaching you to use the mystical powers is more difficult for us. Not impossible though."

Jaina nodded. "It's also something both Lowbacka and I have picked up. Both Rona and Amanda show some example of ESP powers. They are weak, especially in Amanda, but they are there, and Amanda doesn't bruise as easily as she did before."

Rona frowned. "What power?"

Jaina explained, "Magnifying the Senses, the ability to improve the ability of your normal senses. Life detection, the ability to detect life forms hiding out of sight and hearing."

Xander nodded. Of course, they were using the Force internally and mostly instinctively. A use of powers that mimicked what a Slayer could do. The key word is mimicked, not copied.

To reduce an injury was an old Jedi trick. Amanda was using a version of that instinctively during combat. Force speed and Force strength were the same, but constantly active.

Other versions of Jedi powers could be used also.

Their powers were hard-wired to do some tricks. All they needed was a power source. In the original universe, it was the Slayer spirit, in this one, the Force. What one Slayer could do, another could also do or learn. But all Slayers had specialties.

"I got it, your body is hardwired for some super natural powers, but it needs a power source. In our home universe it was the Slayer spirit, in this the Force. So it's using the Force to mimic as close as possible what the Slayer could do. Watcher Giles said that what one Slayer could do, another Slayer could learn. But all Slayers had a specialty that they were superior in. We saw evidence of that when Buffy and Kendra were nearby. Buffy was the better all around fighter and her ability to predict an enemy attack was superior to Kendra's. But Kendra was stronger and could detect vampires by feel. Buffy just looked at how they were dressed."

Jaina nodded, "Any idea on how to train them?"

Xander nodded. "Of course, all of us give them some ideas on how to learn tricks. Then they teach each other the new tricks. Rona is the martial arts teacher and both Chloe and Amanda learn faster than a normal human. Amanda, you have excellent skills and understanding about technology and computers. You help the other two learn. Chloe, you will help instruct the others in any mystical powers you have. We will help you find methods to teach the others."  
Lowbacka nodded. He had made a new Shoto lightsaber (lightdagger) and had to learn how to use it. Jaina nodded, too. Her lightdagger was not that big a deal, she already knew the basics from using Xander's, but her own was still new and she really did not like the artificial stone she had used for it.

**22. 7-1**

Note: Our grateful thank you goes again to Inachis.

7-1

Sluis Van Space Yards

The Sluisi were a race of snakes with arms and heads. Their arms ended up in a four fingered hand and the head looked more like something off a cobra. The snake like body was long and strong. Being green scaled was most common among the race, although others colors were often seen among them. The black scaled Sluisi had in the past said to have the most wisdom and the green the most talent. The yellow was the most attractive and lust filled. Red was the bravest, but suffered the greatest of emotion. The rare orange was said to be the most loyal, but also short sighed.

That racism among the Sluisi had long ago vanished. Nowadays, it was an amusing knowledge that they kept alive as historical information. But the racism had turned to superstition. These days it was said that being surrounded by black kept your mind sharp. This caused many reading corners in a library to be painted black. A Goth would have loved it.

Green helped create ideas. Most restaurants and romantic meeting places were painted yellow and looked like a fast-food restaurant.

Lowbacka and Anakin read the fact as the ship landed in Lando's shipyard.

Xander yelped at the combination of bright orange and bright green that he came face to face with as soon as the entry hatch opened. Everywhere he looked, he saw bright colors.

He could see the old gang move over from the Falcon. Each of them seemed to ignore the battle of clashing colors. Xander, having the combination of black, green and yellow on his armor, really had nothing to complain about. But his armor was not bright, not like this. I'm flying the PCP airline sharp.

Lando watched the young kid's, sorry the young adults, reaction. The local Sluisi loved it, he hated it, but he earned money and the workers were happy. Give him enough money and he would make pink the latest fashion.

The five others from Earth could hardly believe their eyes. Surrounded by a fantasy land painted in green and yellow, bright green and yellow. This was where starships were built?

The ground was painted black and was stained with grease and oil. Snake like beings crawled around carrying stuff or working. Some were standing still, programming data-pads or talking with other snakelike Sluisi.

It was all painted like something from a children's' story, way too bright.

Riley Finn stared wide eyed. "This has got to be a side effect of my addiction." he said.

Graham nodded. "I need my fix now."

Xander sighed. They were having a setback. Hell, he was having a setback. "It's alright. The Sluisi just like extreme colors, just calm down or use sun-glasses." he finished and giving Graham his Correlian-sunglasses knock offs.

Solo brought Lando over. The older dark-skinned man studied the punk that was going after young innocent Jaina. So far he noticed that he was hanging around far too many girls and they were too young.

Second the two men beside him showed signs of spice addiction. He better have a good explanation for letting druggies near Jaina.

*

An hour later

Lando nodded. It was a good explanation for the girls and he could accept the excuse the two druggist had, mostly because he did not want Tendra angry at him.

Han nodded. "I know how you feel. But the kid's heart is in the right place. Get him talking about his ship." he nodded "You'll see."

*

A day later

Morning had arrived. The gang had heard that Luke and Corran Horn with half of Rogue Squadron, including some from the Wraith Squadron, had arrived.

They now called themselves the Slayer Squadron. Lando wondered where do pilots come up with things like that?

The crest of the Slayer Squadron was a sexy young 20 something girl dressed in a bikini, holding a blaster in one hand and throwing a X-Wing with her other, which split up into 12 single X-Wings. Around it was written. -Slayer Squadron - as good as any Rogue-.

Somewhere behind him Xander groaned in pain. No, no it was a joke. Why damn it why? He then considered it, Buffy would love it, be insulted by the girl, but secretly love it. "Sweet, they adopted my idea."

Lando ignored it. Pilot aces were a breed by themselves. He had to figure out Xander now. He was a strange mix between Han Solo, some young Luke Skywalker and with a dose of Chewbacca mixed in.

That furball had a strange sense of humor, once you got to know Chewie he could come with the best jokes.

Then there was something unique in Xander personality, something that he and only he had in him. Lando strangely knew what that was. It was the same aura of danger and competence that he had only felt from Bobba Fett.

No wonder Jaina liked him, the kid was unique. Just like whatever his race of near human was. His computer on near-human races had no idea what he was. Just that he was biologically compatible with normal humans.

And that any child Xander had would have a 65 % chance of being an almost pure blood version of the same race as Xander. But that was normal in near-humans and human relationships. One side was always genetically dominant over the other.

No, Lando was not that emotionally blind. He saw right away that Han liked the fish. He had gills, he was a fish. Luke liked him. Leia liked him, Chewbacca liked him. Even R2 liked him and that little guy was never wrong.

He grinned as he decided to like the fish. "Right, you said you wanted to rebuilt your ship?" he said.

Xander nodded. "I have two TIE-Interceptor's, mark 2, and most of my cargo hold is stuffed with spice, Andris spice to sell.  
What I wanted is this." he said, showing his plans.

Removal and change of hull, that was expensive, but he needed a class 6 armor hull. That was perhaps the most he could get in any normal places. Lando confirmed it.

An improved hyperdrive if possible, if not an improved engine, class 9.

Remove the left hangar door. And improve passenger room from 5+1 in jail to 8 +2 in jail. Improve each passenger's room a bit, but put in an extra bed. That way there would be room to take 8 passengers and two in the cell room.

Lando nodded. "Why not make it the normal way and put up a place for a removable jail cell in the cargo area or even install a Force field cell. They drain energy, but take up almost no room." he asked.

Xander blinked, "Yea. What do you mean with normal?" he asked.

Lando explained. "Normally the Ghtroc has a crew of 2 and passenger room for 10. The crew quarters are captain and copilots, 2 rooms and 2 premium bedrooms. One holds a bunk bed, for well paying passengers. Then the economy bedroom, it contains room for 3 beds. Two bunk beds and one normal. That equals 5 passengers in the economy bedroom and in the 2 premium bedrooms we have bunk beds. 4 passengers total."

Xander frowned. "The last passenger is where?"

Lando pointed at the plans. "In the Co-Pilot room there is an expendable bunk bed if needed. Total: 10 passengers."

Xander nodded. "Right, just make it a bit roomier, perhaps one smaller passenger room and two normal sized passenger rooms. All passenger rooms can have two passengers each and a room with bunk beds for four passengers. Then see that both the captain and the co-captain have room for a passenger, if needed." He grinned. Jaina and he lived in the same room anyway. "Make the captain room larger, Jaina normally sleeps there, the bubble bath and shower have to remain near the captain's room."

Lando nodded. When they put in the hangar, they did increase the weight and length a bit, not much, but a bit. The height at the side was also increased, so the engineers had more space to play with than expected.

If equipped with the right engine, it could almost carry the same size as a medium transport, even if it was still on the light transport size.

A normal Ghtroc was 35 meters long and at the thinnest area in the back, 23 meters wide. In the front it was 35 meter wide and 6 meter tall at the highest point. The Ghtroc was thicker and bigger then an Yt-1300, which was 34.7 meters long.  
Lando and one of his engineers pushed the buttons, the money the kid had would be enough for a hull replacement and perhaps tuning his hyperdrive. If he had luck, an older class nine ion drive could be found, but that would be blind luck.  
Currently, the Enterprise was 38 meter long. The smallest area it had was 26 meters wide, the largest area around 38 meters wide and seven meter tall at the highest point. Who ever had made the modification, the Sluisi engineer said, had pushed it in time. Not that good work, we can do better.

Lando nodded. "Remember, the kid has improved maneuverability and would not like to lose it."

The engineer nodded. Sluisi was known as one of the top races when it came to engineering, but they were slow. Each build they did was a work of art and art could not be hurried.

Tendra, his wife, looked at him. "So what are you planning?" Even if Lando and she had started their marriage as a pure business idea, both had wanted to get married. She to get out of her family's hand and Lando to have something or someone to anchor him down and give him a place to call home.

The business part of their marriage had changed almost from the beginning. They liked each other. It was like facing an old friend you never knew you had before. He walked into her life and Lando felt the same way as she did.

It was almost spooky how much they cared about each other and not long after the wedding they loved each other. "I know you are a romantic at heart, Lando" she said grinning. "What are you planning?" she asked again.

Lando shrugged, damn that woman knew him so well. That was why surprising her made it so interesting. "A Wedding gift, for children of old friends." he kissed her. "Dark times are here, a war is breaking out. The second great civil war has started." He sighed. "Once it's done, I'm giving the fish his money back, love."

Tendra smiled. "That's so sweet of you. Fish?" she said in confusion.

Lando shrugged. "Stole some blood from Xander and did a detailed sensor reading. He is near-human, but biologically combatable with normal humans and he has gills. Working gills, Han confirmed it."

Tendra giggled. "Really? Now that does sound fishy."

The two laughed as they read through Xander's rather expensive wish list and compared it with the price list.

The later was what he could afford. The former was what he was going to get.

"And that's so going to piss of Han," he said with a smudge smile.

Tendra started in surprise. "No way." she said. Lando nodded. "Yea, I'm removing the 0.75 hyper-drive from storage and it will end up in the Enterprise."

Tendra stared at her husband. "But that's your baby." she said in awe. Lando shrugged. "I had an extra built. The Falcon once started with an older version of the 0.75 hyperdrive. Han improved it to a 0.5 hyperdrive. The kid is going to get his chance." With a class 1 hyperdrive, the best you could improve to without risking a meltdown was around 0.70. But a 0.75 could in theory be turned into a half.

The bad part was the price. Only a handful could create hyperdrives that fast and to improve it, it had to have its energy output improved also and had to be in perfect harmony with the energy/material profile of the ship as it passes into hyper drive. Not an easy thing to do, without risking damage to the drive.

Han Solo's bragging that his Falcon was the fastest ship in the galaxy was not that long away from the truth. Lando knew only about four others with hyperdrives just as fast as Han Solo's.

Of course each of them believed their ship was the fastest.

The second way to improve speed is by navigation. The shorter the route you take, the shorter the time it takes to travel. If you wanted, you could go outside the hyperspace-routes, skim by stars and super-nova's to shave off hours or days from your journey. All you would risk would be your ship and your life, but the death would be painless.

**23. 7-2**

Note: I think you all can guess where our thanks goes today? If you guess Inachis you are totally right *g*

7-2

Later

The planet Sluis van was a wonderful place to be on a vacation, with big mountains that rose majestically over the oceans and small forests. And the Sluisi were friendly and caring to guests. A huge colony of Bith also lived on the planet and Xander had seen some working at the yard. They had a huge head and they were incredibly smart and were among the best musicians as they have absolute hearing.

The last group living on the planet was a minority and those were humans. Most humans were not suited for life here.

The Sluisi always took at least twice as much time doing anything than what a human would. The Bith were born pacifists with an evolved sense of patience. Humans were too much in a hurry to fit in on this planet.

But at least nobody would tell you to hurry up and move and both the Sluisi and the Bith just looked at the stressed out human with pity and kept doing everything in slow-motion.

It took 25 days to prepare the wedding, something that should have been done in a day. But then again, the two rings were above perfect. They had looked at the design and said how much they could afford to pay. The Sluisi and Bith jewelry-maker nodded and told them to comeback, the rings would be finished in time. If they disliked the rings they would get double the amount of their money back.

Corran Horn had slipped inside and had given the master crafter a pair of crystals he said would be perfect for the two young Jedi. Seeing its ability, they agreed.

The pair of rings were absolutely perfect, made half of gold and the other half out of electrum, a bright white yellow shine to the metal reflecting the light at some angles. The electrum had a bright white-brown color.

The gold and the Electrum were weaved together like two snakes and on the top of the ring was a single crystal worked in. Luke identified it as a thaissen crystal. He wondered if they had one in the store or if the grinning look on Corran Horn's face meant that he had sneaked one inside to the creator of the rings.

A crystal found on the planet Mimban, in close proximity to a Force sensitive individual it glowed lightly. Blue or green for a lightsider and red in close proximity to a darksider, the illumination is so weak that it's only visible to the naked eye in darkness. But it did give the crystal an extra blue glittering effect.

Xander did have fun finding out that electrum is a real metal in this universe. On Earth he told them electrum was a alloy made from gold, silver and with traces of copper in it.

The days they had to wait were long, but thanks to Luke, filled with a combination of training and fun.

Trying to hurry up a Sluisi was impossible. Just go with the flow and relax like the Bith, living on this planet who had gone native. So had the humans, but compared to the Bith and the Sluisi, they looked stressed out. On any other world, those humans would be called lazy and slow.

Corran Horn showed off his new power. Collecting the surrounding light and even the heat from the air, using a crystal as a focus, he could shoot a weak, but deadly laser. It was like a hold out blaster in power.

He might not be able to use telekinesis, but there are other advantages.

Xander also managed to include them all in his and Jaina's favorite training, team fighting. Something the older Jedi were actually rather bad at doing.

All of them, Kyle, Corran, Luke and Mara, were fighting like individuals, not really co-operating during combat. Leia was actually the best as she had been used to fighting beside Han Solo.

But Luke and Corran took to the training like a fish to water and the two masters were soon better than Jaina and Xander in coordinating their defense and attack. Luke did say it was an excellent idea and he had no idea why he had forgotten to include team fighting in the training from the beginning. As a pilot he knew the value of just that.

Kyle on the other hand was good, but only as long as any other Jedi following him was following his orders. He was a loner and an alpha.

That training exercise soon involved all the Jedi and Force Guardians, even Riley and Graham got involved. It was fun, but draining.

It was after that training something was discovered.

Lando walked by Xander, holding a pair of cups. "Got it right here Luke," he said. Han sniffed, disgusted with the brew. Hot mist could be seen rising from the hot liquid. Jaina smiled, she liked it, but it was rare to find any place that served it or even knew it existed.

Xander sniffed his nose and then sniffed again. Like a zombie he walked forward. Without a word he grabbed Luke's cup and sniffed for a third time, then drained it.

Lando stared at the young man. "Hey t." he was cut off from saying anything more as he could see the strange look in Xander face.

Luke frowned. "That was my cup of chocolate. I'm sure Lando would make you one also, if you ask." he said. "But as you already drank mine…" he sighed.

Xander nodded and ignored the two as he spoke silently to the liquid inside as he starred into the cup. "I missed you. I missed you so much, chocolate. You know, you never know what you miss until you never see it again." he said drying some tears and having a big happy smile.

Lando blinked. The tears and the big happy smile scared him. Just because of a cup?

Jaina walked forward. She could feel waves of happiness coming from Xander. "What is it Xander?"

He looked at her and said with a goofy smile. "Chocolate, hot chocolate, do you know how much I missed it?"

Jaina looked at Luke, then Lando. "What have you mixed in that?" she said.

The two shrugged. "Just chocolate, like the cups I sometimes make for you and Jacen in the temple." Luke explained. "But Lando makes a better cup."

Lando shrugged. "It all depends on the milk Luke. Blue milk is best." Even if blue milk was something most children loved and adults only tolerated. In chocolate it worked perfectly.

Luke shivered, he hated blue milk. The taste alone was disquieting and even as a child he had disliked it.

Xander shook his head. "You don't understand. Chocolate is something I drank on my home world. My best childhood memories had me Jessie and Willow curled up under a blanket, drinking hot chocolate and eating cookies. When I was older and sick, I used to get chocolate from mom or I made it myself. I love the stuff." he said, then turned to Luke and Lando. "Hook me up. Where ever you buy it from, I want in."

Lando shrugged. "It's not like its illegal. Here, I'll give you the coordinates." he said, hiding his smile. The fish sure overreacted to a cup of chocolate.

Luke sighed. "And I still do not have a cup of chocolate." But it was fun to see the kids face.

Mara, seeing him whine said: "Make it yourself. You know how and I know you hate blue milk, but Lando told you in chocolate its fine."

He nodded and walked away as Lando gave Xander the coordinates to the planet were the legal substance called chocolate could be found.

At other times the Jedi masters, Luke Skywalker, Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn were training the young Jedi and checking the skills and power of the Force guardians. Kyle offered to take Amanda and train her in using her strength and power. Corran Horn offered to take Chloe and train her.

Xander kept his offer, they were free to stay or leave and he said so. But also told them that both Corran Horn and Kyle were geniuses at what they were doing. Kyle was the best in infiltration and Corran Horn was a genius detective, Pilot and Force user. Luke offered to take Rona or Chloe with him for training and Leia offered to let Chloe come with her.

Xander said at the end of the discussion: "Why don't the three of you follow one of the others and get some advanced training in until me and Jaina have had a honeymoon? If you want to stay with me, you are welcome, but right now, Jaina is all I want to see."

Finally they were by themselves.

18 days passed by like a pre-married honeymoon. While the others were running around Sluise doing wild land training and learning about their powers, Xander and Jaina enjoyed each other's company. They sighed happily as the Sluisie said the marriage ceremony would be tomorrow.

The guests had arrived. He could see the armored body guards of Saarai-Kaar walking inside.

Both of them bowed down. "We were unsure if you could come, Mistress" Xander and Jaina said together.

The old lady smiled. "I nearly was unable to." she said. "I am happy that the two of you found each other at a young age. Many spend their life in such a hurry that they forget about the happiness you find only in love."

Behind her Lando walked in. "Smart lady. But don't forget the security of a partner that's there for you, the economical safety that some marriages give and the knowledge that you have a place to call home. Happiness is fleeting, but having a special friend is forever." he said, smiling at his wife.

They found friendship first, love later, and it was perfect.

The Saarai-Kaar looked both impressed and insulted by the man. "And you are?" she asked.

Lando waved his hands around. "An old friend of the family, you have to be the Saarai-Kaar. Luke told me about you, a leader of the Jensaarai organization, which he considered to be brothers and sister or something to the Jedi." He gave them a charming smile.

"But let's ignore that, relax and come with me. I can show you a good hotel."

Jaina smiled smugly. "That's hurricane Lando arriving." she said, seeing that somehow he managed to drag the Jensaarai away and they were talking widely and happy with them.

Currently it looked like Lando had a wild idea and they were involved. Poor guys, they would never know what happened and then they would be rich and have Lando as a partner.

Then the news said that a fleet of fifteen battle dragons, each ship around 600 meters in diameter and other fifty ships from the length of 300 down to only 50 meters had arrived.

Tenel-ka had arrived to the wedding, in style.

Finally the day arrived.

Meditating, Xander managed to escape from being nervous and after actually feeling Jaina's emotions using the Force, he was not afraid or nervous at all. Amanda had visited him. She was interested in the training Kyle Katarn could offer her. Xander had hugged her and then gave her a pair of gifts.

First a lightsaber with an artificial crystal he and Jaina had made. "Kyle has to teach you to use it before you even activate it or you might kill yourself." he explained, she rolled her eyes but nodded.

The second gift was an armor made by the Jensaarai. It was Force attuned to her. It was worth more than most bounty hunter armors you could find on the market.

Chloe was fascinated with the training Luke and Corran Horn gave her, but she wanted to stay with them. Xander nodded as he gave her the same gift he had given Amanda.

Rona arrived complaining that Kyle was a nutcase and Corran Horn was paranoid, she was sure about that, and Luke was boring. She wanted to stay with them as well. Xander nodded as he gave her the same gifts he had given Amanda and Chloe.

Perhaps he was nervous and was just hiding it by meditating.

Finally, it was like a dream, a fairy tale too wonderful to be true.

Jaina's dress was light as spider webs and glittering like the stars.

It was "I do." And the look in her eyes was all he could remember. He was overjoyed from all the incredible emotion he felt. Jaina, the food, Jaina, his friends, Jaina, the gifts, Jaina, his new family, Jaina, the reception, and did he say Jaina?  
R3 and R6 joined together with R2 to record the wedding.

He was a married man. They had discussed it, he had no real love of his old family, it was just a memory from his past, one that he was not that fond of. So now he was Xander Lavelle Harris Solo, or short Xander Harris Solo, husband of Jaina Organa Solo.

Corran Horn had helped Xander find the perfect place to go during their honeymoon. Lando's ship the Lady Luck had taken them away to a honeymoon trip.

Xander Harris Solo, it had a cling to it or perhaps it was just in his mind, Xander thought as they were cruising down a river in a repulsor sailing skiff.

Flying half a meter over the water, gently letting the wind pull them forward, it was dreamy. If he had the courage to say it, he would but he was too scared to do it.

Jaina was not. "This is perfect. Nothing can go wrong now darling." She curled up in his arms.

Xander twitched as he held his 18 year old wife. That had just brought doom down on them.

He just knew it

**24. 7-3**

Note: All the glory for making this story even more readable goes to Inachis.

7-3

The plants in the river moved as a shadow walked through them. His target was out there. He smirked as he waved his hand, letting his partner catch up. The Jedi weaklings, they will learn that the power of the Darkside is eternal and all powerful. Beside him his partner grinned an evil smile. Finally he would taste the joy of battle again.

The sailing skiff was slow, but steady as the two relaxed. It was a strange feeling that made Xander peak up his head. "Oh ou." was his comment. "Jaina, watch out. Incoming." he called. They came from down the river at high speed as he used the Force to grab the survival bag, filled with their armor, because you never know.

Jaina, dressed in a tiny golden bikini, growled as she caught sight of what Xander had seen. Military air-speeders were diving down on them, 24 of them. Each armed with heavy cannons able to hurt even an At-At, in theory.

As the rain of fire came down on them, Xander put the bag on his back while Jaina was parrying the bolts as well as she could. He didn't bother with parrying the bolts as the skiff was crashing down in the river anyway. "Jaina, come with me." he said, grabbing her and pulling her down under the water.

They dived deep. Jaina felt the air was disappear from her lungs and was starting to panic when Xander suddenly kissed her and she felt fresh air being pushed into her poor starving lungs. Grinning, she eagerly and greedily kissed him back. Having a husband with gills was a good thing, if you were hiding under water.

Calmly the two of them focused on Force stealth as they put their armor on while standing deep at the bottom of the river. Gigantic waves griped at them and shock waves from explosions were felt painfully as the attackers started to bomb the river, trying to drive the Jedi out of hiding. It was lucky that they believed the two of them were hiding at the plants growing by the river banks, rather than deep under the water in the middle of the river.

Xander focused his Force senses. Looking at Jaina, he spoke directly in her mind using the Force. –I feel the Dark side over there-

She nodded as she put her helmet on. What a honeymoon. She pushed the water out, using the Force, and emptied it of water, creating an air bubble inside the armor. Once the water was pumped out of the armor, she closed the helm visor and had air to breathe again. Cleaning the armor would be a nightmare though.

Xander had his armor on, but he had the armor visor open. The water did not bother him.

They were ready to make a run for it.

Like a pair of fish, they used the Force to swim fast upstream. While they moved away, the enemies were conveniently looking for them down stream, except for the Dark Jedi, who seemed to be able to sense what area they were in.

As the night fell, the two Jedi crawled up on shore. "We should have stayed on Sluisi Van. I should have listened to you." Jaina said.

Xander blinked. "What did I say?"

Jaina shook her head. "We should have brought more weapons and backup," she said.

Xander snored out a laugh. "Oh that, darling, but we are the weapons," he spoke from the shadow. He could see regular soldiers coming, mercenaries from the look of it. Snap, Hiss, Hiss and his lightsaber activated in its double-bladed form.

He had planned on having sex tonight, wild wonderful sex as he worshiped the goddess he had married. There would be permanent mutilation because of this. Beside him Jaina stood up.

Her eyes glittered in irritation. She was going to have wild married sex tonight. Someone, mercenary or darksider, who cares, but someone would lose their nuts over this.

Shivers of fear were felt among the male mercenaries. The females felt like they had made a big mistake. The males felt that their future fun was in mortal peril. Not being attuned to the Force, only with greed, they attacked.

But the rain of bolts was interrupted as Jaina and Xander suddenly stood beside them, waving those awful lightsabers in arcs that were way to low to be good for their health. In the distance the Darksider watched in fascination. The Jedi were attacking low at the legs and groins.

"They have already identified the cortosis alloy our hired guns are using on body, arm and the head for protection." Marvelous, these two would be a wonder, if they could be turned.

Xander frowned as his lightsaber bounced on a helmet. "Cortosis alloy." he said calmly as he cut between the arm and chest piece.

Jaina nodded. "More are coming in air speeders. Let's move." Xander nodded as they ran for cover.

The Darksider grinned. "The hunt is on," he said in a jolly voice. No one could hide from him when he used his skills in Force tracking. Even if those kids did manage to confuse his Force tracking skills for a short moment, it would not last. His partner grinned. Their Master would be pleased.

*

Later during the night

Crawled up in a cave under Force Cloak, Jaina and Xander had taken turns to clean their armor and dress themselves in things other than the golden bikini and a pair of shorts.

"They know the area we are hiding in." Xander said, frustrated. Jaina nodded. "Yes, but it seems that the exact location escapes them." They knew what that meant. "The darksider is using Force tracking to sense our location." Just like the gand Findman, a skill they had not been able to learn.

More mercenaries were moving around, they would be found sooner rather than later. Force stealth did not work on the tech the mercenaries used. Force Cloak worked on living beings and machines, but it drained them and would leave them too tired to defend themselves and worse, you and the area around you had to be calm or it was impossible to activate the Force Cloak.

Saarai-Kaar had explained that some of her Jensaarai did manage to come around that limit, but those people that did it, had natural talent in just cloak. Both Jaina and Xander were unable to cloak during combat and the Darksider would keep on showing his mercenaries in what area they were hiding.

Xander growled in frustration. "Defense is not a real option here. He is trying to drain us. Attack is our only choice. If we remove and hurt as many soldiers as possible, we might have a chance. Taking out the air speeders should be our first target."

"If we attack the ground troopers, the air speeders would attack."

Jaina nodded. "You attack the ground troopers. I'll use the lightsaber in a long range attack on the air-speeders when they come. Then we use Stealth and escape." she said.

Xander nodded. "Let's do it." he said, giving her a deep kiss before putting his helmet on.

Under Force cloak they sneaked out.

Xander dropped his cloak the moment he could see that Jaina was hidden between two big trees growing on a stone cliff. A snap, hiss, hiss, was heard behind a group of mercenaries. The nine soldiers froze. Was one of the Jedi they were hunting standing behind them?

As they spun around with their blasters, Xander attacked. With cold calculated attacks he cut their legs and between the cortosis alloy, sending arms, legs and even heads flying before he moved away.

Jaina sighed. That attack was a bit too fast. They had no chance to call for backup. "No way, you asshole," she said, realizing Xander's plot. He was not going according to their plans. He was going to take all of the mercenaries down.  
She knew Xander was something of a hunter and those mercenaries had volunteered to become prey. He could kill to defend without mercy or anger. It was just defending the family, defending the pack, no evil in that the way he saw it.  
Swearing over the bull headed fish she had married, she waited.

A second group came close and he attacked. They did have time to call for backup and they had two fighters using concussion guns. Dodging them was difficult, each bolt created almost a hand-grenade sized explosion, but his armor protected him against the rain of dirt and rocks. It was just the explosions and the risk of direct hits he had to watch out for.

Slash cut, stab. Stab, slash cut. He dived in, slashing and cutting, using his weapon in its double-bladed shape. He danced around; it was like the candance training. Most of the mercenaries' vital areas were protected by cortosis alloy.

Sending another one crashing down with a Force wave, he spotted a weakness.

They were not really protected. Just a thin film of cortosis alloy metal had been put on the armor. A single forceful hit and it was cracking up like glass.

That would explain how they could use that much, because cortosis was difficult to find outside the small number of planets were the mineral was mined. The Jensaarai used cortosis in a rawer form, making a weave of cortosis that they put above the armor. These guys made a metal alloy of it.

The ability of the alloy was to reflect raw energy attacks. Normally, if steel is used as metal, it becomes too heavy and too fragile to be effective in armor. There were ways around that by using other combinations, according to legends.

The spun cortosis affected lightsabers differently, it short circuited the blade. You would cut it for perhaps a millimeter, then the lightsaber would deactivate. You had to push the activation button again, which took precious time in battle, many seconds even. In a combat between Jedi using lightsabers, it could cost your life.

As the last of the second group fell down screaming, Xander could hear the air-speeders approaching. He did it.

Jaina waited as Xander started to run. A rain of blaster cannon fire erupted from the four speeders, right there. She hurled her blade in the air, using telekinesis to activate it. It turned into a deadly missile that crashed like a spear right into the engine of the first air-speeder.

Jaina pulled the lightsaber back, let it rotate in the air and slashed a second speeder. This time it did only some surface damage.

Then airspeeder no 3 had a problem with a big rock which suddenly collided with it. Xander was using telekinesis to hurl stones up in the air.

Jaina grinned, not bad. Difficult unless you are a master, but right at that moment the fighters were confused over her attack. She grabbed her lightsaber just as the last 2 air-speeders flew away.

Xander hugged her as he whispered: "It's hunting time. Jaina, watch my back." His eyes were glittering green and yellow, the Hyena was on the prowl.

His ring glittered in blue and he could feel the evil of the Darkside, but refused it. Anger was like a horse forced into obedience by using the whip until it could not run away. Jaina felt it, rivers of anger erupted inside of her husband, yet he refused the Darkside completely. It held no appeal to him. Right, she would watch his back alright, side by side.

*

On the other side

The Darksider grinned as he watched the mayhem. "Soon my friends, soon its hunting time for us." Those Jedi were a wonderful challenge. He was sure they were half Darksiders already. The mercenaries would never hunt Jedi again after this night.

From everywhere they came, the two of them danced in, slashed then vanished again, leaving hurt and damaged fighters behind them. And then they started to use the weapons left lying on the ground. Their own weapons were turned against the mercenaries, blaster bolts and concussion bolts rained down on them.

Xander and Jaina agreed with Kyle, the Force was powerful, but it was still just a tool and using it was draining them. When the dark was lifting and the morning came, the two Jedi were back in hiding. Even the pair of Darksiders had no idea where they were. They were close, but where?

**25. 7-4**

Note: Now I nearly forgot it. Thank you to Inachis

7-4

Inside the campsite of the mercenaries, hiding in the back of a big trunk, Jaina and Xander were sleeping and resting. Three hours of sleep, then the battle would start again.

*

Hakon the Dark Jedi growled. He knew that his true mistress had created him, trained him from childhood as an engine of destruction. He would not stop fighting or stop making others suffer until the day he died. He had no choice. There were moments he dreamt of becoming a Dark Lord. He had the potential, but there was his need to destroy and obey his mistress Lady Lumiya. All she needed was to point him towards a target and he would go. If she angered him, the bonds in him stopped him from attacking her, directly or indirectly.

But eventually she made a mistake. Tired and angered from losing a fight with Luke Skywalker, she gave him a loose, but direct order. "Keep quiet and just get away from me. Go and kill some Jedi. Why don't you do whatever you can to make them dead? All of them." she said, tired, angry and too wounded to kill him. So he did, just like she said. He vanished and kept away from her, kept quiet.

He knew that by himself it would be useless, he needed a follower. He gathered and trained student after student as weapons against the Jedi. He also told them there were more Jedi out there.

Lady Lumiya was screaming in anger over his betrayal.

He relaxed, the hunt was going fine, his two top students were hunting the Jedi right now and if they failed, he would get them. This he said to himself as he leaned on the balcony at the hotel out in the forest. His two greatest students were fighting the Skywalker girl Jaina Organa Solo and the stranger Xander.

*

In the base camp

The morning mist had not yet vanished from the camp when the box opened up. A refreshed Jaina and Xander crawled out. Ignoring the mercenaries they walked in stealth through the camp towards the Darksider. In a big tent they found a Gand and a Rodian growling angry to each other. Both had armor and lightsabers and both of them were arguing.

The Gand was agitated. "This Gand knows they are near. Really near, almost next to us. But this Gand cannot find them. We must do something, Neesh, there have to be something Neesh and Khiir can do." he said in confusion.

The Rodian Neesh tried to keep his anger down. "Runeex, what can we do? My tracking skills say the same Sith spit as yours do. Yet where are they?" he said.

By using only his species name the Gand revealed that he felt as a failure. Whenever he was successful, the Gand would use his first name when referring to himself.

Runeex Khiir sighed, his insectoid like head leaned down in anger and frustration. "Gand wants to know where they are." he growled out, feeling too angry and to worthless to use his name.

"Right in front of you," Xander said as he walked in, lightsaber still in dual bladed shape. Switching off to a double bladed form would work best while in combat to confuse the enemies and then kill them.

Runeex and Neesh jumped in surprise and fear as the two Jedi marched in like they owned the place.

Neesh tried to stall for time. "I see you do…" he was interrupted as Xander attacked.

Runeex was confused, normally the Jedi always let the Darksider talk about how they were going to kill them and the Dark Jedi had to listen to the Jedi trying to convince them to surrender. It was damn near tradition. This Jedi attacked first and he could feel the aura of a predator in him.

"Why he attacked first?" he said in confusion.

Jaina shrugged as she moved to attack Runeex. "Bad memory? The two of you and your idiot squadron attacked first yesterday." She slashed and he parried. "Now it's our turn," stab and he jumped. Force push and the Gand was flying out of the tent.

She cast a quick look at Xander, he was holding his own. "Love you." she said as she vanished after the Gand called Runeex.

Neesh the Rodian grinned as he parried another attack using his armor gauntlet. "So, a Jedi that uses a double-bladed lightsaber, do you not know it's supposed to be a Sith creation? Or are you a Sith?" he mocked.

Xander shrugged, unfazed by the taunt. "I like exotic weapons. Besides, I think your head would make a nice trophy stuffed and mounted on a wall. At least until I actually kill me some dangerous prey." he said, mocking the Rodian's skill in battle.  
So far they had both held back, testing each other. He had used Force push and the Rodian canceled it with his own Force push.

Neesh screeched in anger. "You will regret that." he said as he activated his own weapon.  
The lightwhip slashed out, five cutting strings, three surrounded by energy like a lightfoil or a lightsaber and the other two were leaving mist in the air. Extreme cold repulsor fields and the Darksiders own Force. Skilled, he kept the five strings from colliding with each other. He had combined a lightwhip with a Rodian cryo-whip and the coils of the whip filled the air as he snapped his weapon towards Xander.

Xander jumped back, slashing the tent open before he landed out of range. Four meter range, Xander thought, and the weapon moved further out, it filled an area almost 3 meters wide with the slinging coils of the whip.  
The Rodian followed him out. "Who is scared now?" he bragged.

Xander frowned as he relished his Shoto or lightdagger. "Idiot, the lightwhip is perfect against unarmored Jedi." he said, holding the dagger first, ready to parry.

The whip coils could be cut off or ripped off using his lightsaber. But first he had to capture the coils, for which his dagger or his armored gauntlets were perfect. Neesh frowned. His whip would cut armor or freeze until it broke asunder, he though. What was this fool of a Jedi planning to seem so confident?

They attacked.

Xander dived inside, using the dagger to catch some of the cryo-whip strings. They were crackling as the cortosis alloy tried to keep them from breaking. He slashed down hard with the saber, leaving one of the strings shorter.

The Rodian roared in anger. Xander knew this would hurt, if he was mistaken about his armor or moved to slow. As the whip slashed down, he dropped his dagger and moved towards the Darksider, catching five of the whips coils in his hand.

The armor gloves sparked and flashed as his cortosis short circuited the lightwhip and burned up. Then he slashed down as hard as he could into the strings of the whip.

The lightwhip cracked and was broken.

Xander grinned, although his gauntlet was also broken. He couldn't even open the gauntlet anymore, it was fused together, trapping his hand.

Ignoring that he attacked as the Rodian dived for protection, sending rocks and even mercenaries flying towards Xander. He parried with his blade and the Force and pulled of the gauntlet, dropping it on the ground. His lightdagger landed in his unprotected hand and he was armed again.

Neesh pulled out his lightsaber. "You are going to die for that." he said.

Xander raised an eyebrow. "You were trying to murder me before and now you threatening to kill me because I actually humiliated you? Am I supposed to be impressed or fearful?" he asked. He could feel the anger inside of him and he used it like a tame horse, refusing to let the anger rule him. He ignored the call of the Darkside. He was not interested in evil.

The Rodian Neesh roared in anger as he attacked. Like a man riding an untamed horse, blinded by rage, the Darkside controlled him. HE grew more powerful as he sent out a bolt of dark lightning towards Xander.

Xander parried it with his dagger and met the attack perfectly with his shoulder pads. Neesh's lightsaber short circuited and died while Xander's lightsaber slashed the Rodian deep in its neck.

Neesh looked shocked, the Jedi used his shoulder to parry him and he could feel the burning inside his neck. He had a lightsaber driven deep inside of him. Neesh felt the light end as he died.

Xander sighed. "Idiot, skill vs. power. I'll take skill and luck like that over power any day. I love luck." Inside of him, the rage cried out like a tortured dog, desperately trying to take over, only to face the stick once again.

The Rodian had been good, but using a lightwhip against his kind of body armor was not that good an idea. His skill in using Force lightning was impressive, unless he just did it in blind rage.

Xander walked away. Jaina was still fighting the Gand, they were equal in skill as it seemed. No wait, Jaina was trying to talk to him, trying to find out more information. He rolled his eyes as he joined Jaina in combat. There would be no quarter asked or quarter given in this combat, they all knew that. Facing two Jedi at the same time meant the Gand would die. But he wanted one or both of them to join him.

He used the Force to activate his revenge-surprise, a hidden thermal detonator. Using the Force, he pushed the button, now the moment he died it would explode. Letting go of what was left of his self control, he attacked.

Jaina parried and Xander attacked, but the armor held. Xander slashed and attacked, while Jaina used the Force to slam a big rock in the side of the Gand, which he almost dodged.

Xander dived in, dodged the Gand's lightsaber and stabbed his own right through the cortosis alloy and into the heart of the Gand, just as the dying creature slashed his lightsaber down in one last cut to kill Xander.

Jaina Force pushed the Gand away from Xander.

Dying and flying in the air, Runeex hoped he would not end up too far away from the Jedi.

Jaina was shocked and frightened. "He almost got you in the neck." she said. Xander nodded. "Yes b…" he was interrupted when, instead of crash landing, the Gand exploded and the world turned white around them.

Fuel barrels exploded. Repulsor crafts and some weapons exploded form the shockwave of the thermal detonator. Xander and Jaina weren't standing in the centre of the blast, but still way too close to the heat.

Hand in hand, each holding and helping the other, the two armored Jedi, absorbing and dissipating energy to survive, were running for their life. Their armor, while fireproof, would have been destroyed. Only Xander's fireproofed cloak saved them.  
As the camp was turned into a wild fire, Xander and Jaina dived burning into the river.

*

Hours later

Xander's cloak, while fireproof, had not been fire immune. It was burned down and fire damage could be seen on his armor. Most, if not all of the spun cortosis had been burned right off his armor.

Jaina's armor was just as bad and both of them had minor burn wounds over their whole body. A healing trance would luckily take care of that.

"Never going to get married again," Xander said. Jaina replied: "Good to know and why if I may ask?"  
Xander grinned tiredly. "Love being married, but the honeymoons are killers."

Giggling at the stupid joke Jaina could only agree.

The two of them crawled down in hiding to eat and then rest.

*

Near the hotel Hakon the Dark Jedi started his swoop as he drove into the forest. He could feel the death of his two powerful students. He would kill or turn the Jedi for this.

*

Later in the forest

The west side was burning, a greedy all consuming fire raged in the forest. A fire created by mercenary tools of war and the explosive death of a Gand.

Safe on the east side of the river, two armored humans were walking. Their armor was burned, some of it was broken and they looked tired. If this was Corran Horns idea of a good honeymoon, they would have words with him.

But now they were finally safe.

"Look, help is coming." Xander said as he spotted a swoop landing nearby. Then the driver activated a red lightsaber as he started to walk towards them. His face was shriveled up in rage. "Or more trouble, that would have been my second guess." Xander finished lamely.

The two young Jedi activated their lightsabers.

"I am Hakon, weapon of destruction. Join me or die." the new comer intoned. One look in the eyes of the two young ones and he knew his answer. "I see. Then die, fools." He always felt a spark of something wonderful when he killed a young Force sensitive person. It was like he had murdered a life time of hope and joy in one single stroke of his lightsaber. He liked the feeling.

Hakon attacked directly, not wasting any time with bragging or convincing the Lightsiders of the superior strength of the dark madness he was serving. As they got closer, they could see his scarred and pale face. Both his eyes were replaced by pale cybernetic ones.

Hakon Force pushed, slashed and cut while moving like a lightning storm. Even as he moved, he sent objects flying against them. Xander and Jaina were pushed back by the pure strength of the enemy. Combining close combat with range attacks was difficult, but Hakon made it look easy.

Slash cut stab, Jaina moved as fast as she could. She was tempted to use her own lightdagger, but that wouldn't work. She was faster using just one weapon.

Xander on the other hand had the coordination to use two. He just could not get an advantage on the guy. Hakon was faster than the two of them and even fighting together, he was forcing them back.

As Hakon cut towards him, Xander dodged and jumped high and backwards. As he landed he used his strongest Force push, not against Hakon, but at the ground itself, making the moist swamplike side of the river move like a tidal wave over Hakon. It hit the Dark Jedi at the last second, just before his blade slashed down on Jaina. As Hakon was pulled away by the wave of dirt Xander rushed forward to Jaina who swallowed nervously. A moment, she thought, and the Darksider would have killed her.

An explosion of lightning destroyed the wave of dirt as Hakon climbed out. His robes were clean as the day he put them on. Jaina swallowed again. "Something tells me we should run." she said.

Xander nodded. "I do believe you are right." They looked at each other and vanished over the river into the burning west side.

They had armor and air supply. The Dark Jedi had not. He would have to use the Force to compensate. Hopefully that would tire him out or at least dirty his robes before they died.

A rain of rocks was send after them, crashing burning trees down over them. Xander and Jaina ran like a demon of hell was after them deeper into the burning inferno.

Hakon moved after them.

Cold wind formed around him, pushing the heat of the fire away. "These young ones are not stupid." he said to himself. They were trying to drain his strength. He had to move faster or be more careful.

**26. 7-5**

Note: You all are probably bored with those notes, but Inachis has done a lot of work to help us so we have to thank her at least.

7-5

One Week later

A tired Xander crawled down near Jaina as they hid behind a cliff. They saw Hakon walking near them and both Jaina and Xander took remarkable joy in seeing that his robe was dirty.

"Victory is ours," Xander said silently.

Jaina tried not to giggle. She was too terrified to giggle, but they had made his robe dirty. Hiding from his senses with Force Stealth was all they could do right now.

Hakon was silent, pushing his senses out, trying to find them. They were hiding themselves; he had to constantly overpower their stealth technique, just to find them. It was irritating.

"I found you," he said as he started to run towards them. Pulling the rock of the cliff he created a rock slide just over them. Jaina pushed her strength in the Force to create a shield, holding a big rock as armor against the rain of stones. Xander used his strength to carry them both out before it was too late.

One move and the fight were joined.

Dodging, slashing, cutting, stabbing, they moved as fast as they could. Hakon still moved faster or maybe, Xander felt something was wrong with his speed. He slashed blindly, causing blood and a piece of robe to fly from Hakon. "He is using illusions to blind and confuse us. We are faster than he is." he growled.

Hakon smiled blood for the first time in years. "You really think so?" he growled. Running after them for a whole week had tired him out and here he was plotting on taking it easy. He started to move at full speed again.

Jaina and Xander felt the difference between the illusion and the real deal. Now Hakon moved like in their first battle and all they could do was defend themselves.

This time Jaina reacted and using her skills as a Jedi, she put all her mental strength in her mind control skills. She did not need to control him, just distract him for a bit. "Left." she pushed the idea that attacking all out to the left was the right move and she prepared herself to parry and hope Xander could penetrate his defense.

Hakon obeyed, he slashed and attacked all out against Jaina.

Xander reacted. He slashed and stabbed his blades as fast as he could at the Dark Jedi. Jaina crashed down as the attack almost killed her. She had lightsaber cut marks over her chest between the breast and right arm now. Even with the armor. But Hakon screamed in anger and pain as the lightdagger and lightsaber attacked and stabbed him right through his left shoulder and slashed deep into his back.

He crashed down and had to dodge for his life as the Jedi kept pushing him. He sent one massive Force push, focused at the boy's head to crush it. The boy did manage to redirect the wave of motion, but it hit his shoulder, crushing bone, and cast him away like a pebble from a catapult.

Hakon stood up. He was hurt and would need medical attention, but first he would kill both of them. The whole forest fell silent as a massive ROAR filled it. Two massive ships were flying above him, their cannons pointing down at him.  
The Millennium Falcon and the Enterprise had arrived to save the day.

He could already see Jedi Master Luke Skywalker jumping down from the Enterprise's hangar door. Hakon screamed at the unfairness of life as he turned and ran for his life.

*

Later

Corran was feeling a bit nervous. Xander just kept staring at him. Like a predator measuring his prey.  
Finally he spoke. "Is she alright?" Xander asked the robot doctor.

The robot doc answered without even turning its head. "Yes. She is responding well to our bacta and skin graft, by tomorrow she will be perfectly fine."

Leia frowned, but breathed out in relief. "Good to know. Now, will my son-in-law be fine?" she said.

The robot doctor looked at her. "He suffered greater damage from fire burns then your daughter did because his skin is more sensitive to dry heat then normal human skin is, but he too is responding well to our treatment. Your daughter's scars will heal over during the night and could have been left untreated without further complications. Xander's wounds were more serious, the bone in his shoulder was fragmented into splinters. I had to operate and then glue them together."  
Han swallowed, that was painful. As a swoop racer during his teen years, he knew that from experience. "If that is so, why are you awake, Xander?" he asked with respect.

Xander wished he could roll his shoulder. "Doc over there said he glued the bone together. It's as strong as normal bone. It's the muscles and stuff that's hurting. That's why I have the bacta bandage around it."

The doctor looked at them. "The operation worked perfectly, as long as he has the bacta bandage around his shoulder and upper arm, it will heal better if he's up and about normally, but do not do any heavy lifting until I have cleared you for duty. It will take at least two or three days."

Xander sighed. "Alright, sir, you know best." he finished and then turned to Corran and Luke. "I want to know who the hell that was. He said he was Hakon the weapon of destruction."

Luke sighed. "Then it's true. He is a renegade slave of Lady Lumiya. She created him as a weapon, used cybernetic implants and psychological imprinting since childhood. He is unable to even disobey a direct order given to him from her. Apparently she somehow managed to lose him and he has been going around killing any Force user regardless of who they serve or what side they are on, the Dark or the Light."

Corran nodded. "I spend four months trying to find him last year. Nothing, just rumors that the crazy bastard is building himself a cult to replace the Sith as masters of the Dark side. He just wants everything to burn. Each of his followers is as crazy as he is."

Luke nodded. "But Lady Lumiya is also trying to find and destroy him."

Xander groaned aloud. "A nut case, Corran, I'm never going to listen to your advice on good romantic holidays again," he said as he limped away to sit in the bed near the bacta tank were Jaina was floating. Leia smiled sadly as she hurried over to the worried young man.

Han turned to Luke. "We need to talk kid," he said.

Luke nodded. When Han talked like that you listened or regretted it for the rest of your life, all five seconds of it. Jedi Master or not, Luke walked after him, planning to obey his older friend in whatever he said.

*

Later in a small room outside the hospital

Han faced Luke. "So who or what is Hakon?" he said with anger.

Luke looked at the windows. "I first found out about him as a rumor. Shira Bree took genetic samples of me. Then mixed it  
with her own and Hakon was born, trained by her since his birth as a weapon of destruction."

Han was silent.

Luke continued. "If the rumors Lumiya told me are correct, she did not raise a child, she created a weapon of destruction that would follow every one of her commands. Mind-programming since birth and cybernetic enchantments, but still he somehow managed to escape. That was the reason why I send Corran and Kyle out to find or destroy him, if they had to." Luke was not sure he would be able to murder his own child, even if the child was evil and twisted and he had not had anything to do in creating that child.

Han nodded. "Let's keep this between us right? But Leia has to know," he said. Luke nodded, only Leia and the old Jedi Masters and no others besides them.

*

Four days later, in the Sluisi space yard

Xander's shoulder still felt like it was full of ants, but the doctor droid said it was the healing glue inside the bone that was reconnecting the fractured parts. The strength of the glue actually made his bone as strong as normal bone and in time, it would heal perfectly. The glue would be absorbed by the bone itself as nourishment. That was what it said, but it still felt like he had an ant farm inside of him. Jaina nodded in sympathy, she broke her leg bone once. It itched for almost a month. Xander's shoulder bone had been fractured and the droid had to cut him open and glue him back together.

Lando grinned. "We were going to test the engine when Luke said you guys were in trouble. So we decided that the best way of testing the Enterprise was to drive it there and save you, but now it's finished. The girls Rona, Chloe and Amanda said I should write a number after the name. I hope you don't mind."

On the hull of the ship in front of him was written The Enterprise on the bottom and on the top was USS: Enterprise 1701-X. Xander blinked. It was perfect. The body looked longer somehow. "Is it longer?" he asked. "And about the name, what if I'm using a fake ID? Do I have to repaint it?"

Lando shook his head. "No, the name is projected by holo projectors, just turn it off or type in something else and yes, it is two meters longer. They discovered that the two hangar doors had created fractures on the ships ribs. They removed the problem by taking out one hangar door and extending the ship."

Xander nodded. The engineers at Coruscant had extended the design from 35 meters to 38 meters long just to get the pair of hangar doors in place. He could see how it could have damaged the ships stability. Now it was 40 meters long. He frowned, it looked more graceful and was put together smoother than before.

From 26 to 40 meters wide, depending on whether you measured it at the smallest or the thickest place, the height was 7 meters and 10 meter from the ground, if you stood on the roof. The Sluisie had softened the formerly bulkier parts and made it look more natural, not like a re-built ship. It actually looked more like a Ghtroc now than before, except being thicker, wider and longer.

Lando watched the kid inspect the craft as he handed over a data-pad with a technical read out and how much money the kid had left. This was not a cheap rebuild. But it was perfect as a wedding gift. Jaina and Xander got it for free. He grinned, they would need it and being a business man he knew grateful costumers always returned and having grateful Jedi on your side was never a wrong thing.

Class 9 military Ion engine  
Type: 2.2 maneuverability, they had Improved it from 2.1 to a 2.2 that was sweet.  
Class: 3. Military Shields. An normal Ghtroc had a class 1 civilian.  
Class 6. Military hull. Normally a Ghtroc had class 3. The Enterprise had a class 5 before. The Millennium Falcon had a class 6.  
Type: 0.75 hyperdrive

His weapons were the same as before.

Thanks to the extension of his ship, the two separate cargo bays now had a connection and he could still carry two star fighters. The second fighter had to move from the cargo-bay into hangar-bay and use its door to leave the ship. So he could carry about 150 metric tons or two starfighters and about 50 tons of cargo.  
All that and he got his money back.

"Holy fuck," Xander yelled.

Jaina, who was inspecting the underside of the ship, rushed over. "Look." Xander said, handing her the datapad.  
Jaina studied it and became more and more shocked as she read on. "Hyper Xander hyper," she said in awe. "There's no way we could afford this," she said.

Lando nodded. "Think of it as a wedding gift." he said. "Besides, with the war going on, sooner or later I might need a Jedi to protect my family and future children," he said in a serious tone of voice.

They nodded to him as they walked into the Enterprise.

Lando showed them around. "The captain's quarters are extended with room for both of you." He showed that it could be split in half to form a tiny private area for both of them to change in or have some privacy if they needed it, and a joined bigger area were the bed and even a sofa was. It even had a tiny shower in it. Lando continued his presentation. "We have the bubble bath installed nearby, but this is a sonic shower, it's a quick and fast way to get cleaned." He smiled. "Besides, the room with the luxury bath also includes a washing machine. With the washer active, the bath and shower are turned off, but the captain has his private shower."

"Not quite luxury, but much greater than the home I had in Sunnydale." Xander said.

The co-captain quarters were smaller and had a folded bunk bed inside, in case they had passengers or something. Normally that would have been Jaina's room, but with the extended captain quarters, it was for whoever joined them as crew and asked first. Seeing Lowbacka had already hanged some of his tools inside, they had a good idea who the first mate would be.

Passenger quarters were different. The premium bedrooms were one smaller room with two beds, then two premium bedrooms which were slightly larger and also had two beds. The smallest of the three premium rooms was closer to the washrooms and toilets, and lastly there was a larger room with bunk beds for four passengers.

That made it 10 passengers and counting the extra beds in the crew-quarters, they could squeeze in 12 passengers and 2 crew if they needed to.

The galley had been equipped with a real kitchen with an extra sofa and table. It was just like a real living room, one where 12 people could hang out, although it would be rather tight, but seeing that they did not have 12 passengers, it was big.  
The inside of the ship was also built as a home, while on the outside it was a warship, a unique combination.

Xander grinned. He had a real Enterprise. Just like Captain Picard's Enterprise, it could kick ass and yet be comfortable to ride in.

A knocking on the wall behind him interrupted his musings. Amanda, Chloe and Rona were standing there, beaming with joy. "Hi captain, hi Jaina," they said together. Riley and Graham were also there, standing behind the girls, grinning in amusement. Amanda grinned. "We decided to give you a gift," she said.

Rona continued. "But we didn't have that much so we asked around and did some extra work to pay for it," she said smiling.

Chloe added, "They helped and Anakin also." she said.

Together, they pushed Graham, who they had forced to carry the box holding the gift, forward.  
Jaina glanced at Xander. "I'm afraid," she said.

Xander nodded, "Me too, let's see what they got us."

Inside the box was something that made Xander laugh in joy. It was a captain's jacket and uniform that looked just like Picard's, except his was yellow and black not red and black. A smaller box held communicators. Real ones, the same type Captain Kirk used.

Amanda grinned. "We thought about asking them to make it like Captain Picard's version, but all of you use armor so much. So we thought rip shirt Kirk's communicator would be easier for you to use."

Rona nodded. "And they said it has longer range and it's easier to use with bigger buttons."  
Jaina looked up from the box. "Rip shirt Kirk?" she asked in confusion.

Riley laughed. "In the movie and the TV show, every time Kirk was in a man to alien close combat situation, the enemy would beat him until his shirt was ripped or cut. Then Kirk ended up the winner."

Lowbacka, who had walked in roared out his hello and asked a question.

Xander looked at Jaina who nodded. "Yes, you can be part of our crew. I thought you were going with Jacen?" he asked.  
Lowbacka shook his head and roared out an explanation. Jacen and Samy were helping Tenel-Ka build a Jedi safe house and also helped her defend the border along Harpes sector.

Xander nodded. In many areas, old war ships were now patrolling space. That made his current mission more important than ever.

Jaina smiled. "Good to have you onboard. Xander and I are going to get to know our ship and fix her up. Then join whatever side is decided by our families."

Xander nodded. "But first we have to find out who our crew is."

Rona stepped up shyly. "Can I be part of the crew, Xander?" she asked.

Jaina smiled "If you want to. We'd be more than happy to teach you."

Amanda smiled as well. "I got an offer from Kyle to train in combat. Then Corran Horn offered me a place in the Slayer  
Squadron. They're working for the fish now," she said, meaning the Mon Calamari.

Chloe swallowed. "I'm coming with Rona," she said. "If I can," she finished quietly.

Xander and Jaina nodded. "Remember, as part of the crew you work and train, no lazing around." Jaina remembered to say.  
Riley spoke up next. "Can I come? I have only two skills. That is fighting and driving things. That's it."

Graham had found work with Lando as a co-pilot in one of the bulkier ships, but Riley could not see himself with a future as a cargo train driver.

Graham apparently could.

They looked around. Lowbacka, Rona, Chloe, Riley. "Excellent. Was that all?" Xander asked.  
"Not quite all." Anakin smiled as he walked in and hugged his big sister. "Mom and Dad said I could join you, but only if I follow orders and help with the ship."

Xander nodded, so Anakin Solo, Lowbacka, Rona, Chloe and Riley, then Jaina and him.

Using the fake id as the Klingon, the USS Enterprise-1701-X lifted off toward Nal Hutta. In the cargohold were 50 metric tons of highly priced Sluisi wines. Seeing Han Solo and Lando talking about the situation, he went to them and asked if they knew where to get a cargo to Nal Hutta.

Lando frowned at the suggestion. "The Klingon? Can I trust them?" he asked. Xander just grinned. "The Enterprise is the Klingon," he explained. Lando grinned. "I do have a perfect first cargo. Sluisi spice wine. Hutt love the stuff." he leaned back. "Why Nal Hutta?" he wondered. Han smirked; he and some slicer friends of his had created the fake ID for the Klingon and Captain Rednax.

Xander explained. "I have a Hutt that owns me a favor." Han had helped him, but also explained that to be truly invisible, whenever he wanted it, he had to get fake ids from many different groups. That way, if they back tracked his ID from one group, not all his IDs would be revealed.

Lando grinned as he said he could fix it.

Xander had sighed. "It's a shame we don't have a dummy corporation to use."  
The old smuggler and the former conman looked at him, both grinning like sharks.

**27. 7-6**

Note: I know I'm starting to get uncreative, but I don't find any ways to thank Inachis for her work, so simply thank you Inachis.

7-6

Twelve days later they had started the journey and now they were in hyperspace. Xander had to figure out what his crew would do. What he needed was a pilot, a co-pilot, a communications officer, a front-gunner, a top-gunner, a bottom-gunner and a missile-gunner.

Jaina and her X-Wing became the wing-man and scout and, when she was on the ship, co-pilot. Lowbacka became chief engineer and top gunner. Anakin was co-pilot/sensor officer and second engineer, as well as backup front-gunner for the auto-cannon. Rona was helping them with communications during combat. Riley was a good gunner and had the patience a missile gunner needed to wait for the right moment. Chloe got the role of bottom gunner.

Xander nodded, as he and Jaina sat by the small table in the captain's room, plotting the training. Besides these roles, each of them, even him and Jaina, had other duties. Chloe and Riley both were marvels in the kitchen. So they would take most of the turns in the kitchen preparing food, then washing, cleaning, repairing, log-book, teaching, learning and watering his tomato plants. There were many things to do in the ship. With the improved system and sensors of the Enterprise, the co-pilot and communications officer would be swarming with information to sort out, but his trusted R3 would fill in that role for now. Lowbacka's translator droid M-TD would help Rona to do her duty as communications officer on the ship. He got all of them working.

The moons Nar Shadda and Nal Hutta hovered in space as they exited hyperspace. It was lucky that they traveled as the Klingon. A 1200 meter long Mon Calamari cruiser, named Diciipa was in close space and the Diciipa was a Republic craft.  
Jaina sighed. "Right, remember your fake IDs."

Chloe frowned. "Um I'm Chloe," she said, reading her fake ID. Xander nodded. "Yes, but remember you are a different and older Chloe who's 18 years old, not the Chloe who's still 15." She nodded.

Anakin was not pleased, "What, I'm Annie?" he said.

Xander smirked. "Hey that was your grandfather's nickname growing up. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for you."

Anakin nodded, still sore. "No wonder he turned into Vader." he muttered, walking out.

Riley frowned. "Yelir," It sounded stupid, just turning his name the wrong way.

Xander nodded. "Remember. I'm Captain Rednax and this is my wife Aniaj."

Riley smirked. "Ahaa. Why am I not surprised?" This would never work.

A short moment later the Republic patrol shuttle had boarded to inspect the ship, looking for Jedi or smugglers.  
"This looks good Captain Rednax," the Bothan officer said. The Duros next to him nodded. "Yes, everything is in order, unusual for ships in this area."

Jaina smiled. "Our boss runs a tight ship policy. Worf Transports Unlimited considers smuggling to be unworthy of an armed merchant." She said, hoping the tiny fake company Han Solo and Lando had created to help them would work.  
So far only 4 real ships were truly part of the company Worf Transports Unlimited, but they did have a tiny fleet of 16 decoy ships that consisted of other armed transports that Lando had hired. Most of them had no idea that the whole company was a fake front to hide behind and after Xander, Jaina, Han Solo and even Luke invested in the company, it was actually up and running. Hiding behind the fake names and identities was also Ackbar, who saw the advantage of getting cheap information from the company and also a way to let his spies take on fake identities without too much problems from the company owner.

Lando was plotting to make Worf Transports into a real armed merchant firm. Han Solo, as Deak Olok, and his ship the Lady Rainbow was the first ship in. Leia had fun playing the captain. Lando Calrissian was known as Captain Quark, which had been Xander's idea, and his ship the Lady Luck was flying under the name the Queen of Aces. Lastly, there was the ship Shadow Chaser, an armed experimental shuttle that Jaina, Luke and Jacen had stole from Brakis, the Dark Jedi who created the first Shadow Academy.

Each of them had fake names. Registered at a freeport they could go almost anywhere. Sure, if someone looked really close at the ids and the ship, they could discover who they were, but so far it worked and the best part was that the company was already starting to earn its own way. The speed at which Lando and Han acted to create the firm told Xander two things: first, they had done this before, and second, both of them were already planning something like this when he came and asked for an idea. Waving around a registered company and a fake name so that most security officers accepted it and moved on to the next ship took time. It also helped that they had uniforms on them and they looked professional.  
Like Xander had said. "Like real Starfleet personnel."

The Bothan Lieutenant nodded. "That is all Rendax, you can keep moving. Just remember, glitter spice wine might be tolerated in this solar system, but in most it's illegal." He growled out.

Xander nodded. "Of course sir, it is against company policy to carry or smuggle illegal goods." The soldiers inspecting the ship grinned slightly at that. They'd found some illegal goods, such as an extra pistol, but nothing they were actually searching for.

One of the guards frowned. That girl sure looked like Leia Organa Solo, only younger. He ignored it. According to the papers, she was Aniaj Levell.

Riley blinked as they left the ship. "They fell for reversed names," he said.

Xander shrugged. "It's a big galaxy and we did change our appearances a little," he said, showing his face which did look  
different than before, although it faded back to normal. "A weak Force illusion, it didn't work on you or the girls, but those weak minded guards believe we looked different then we do." It was a trick Luke had taught them.

*

Later

They paid Shug Nix to let them stay in his hangar and have his hacker's create a second ID for his ship. "The Pickard"  
Xander relaxed while reading up on the news. The Hutt and the Black Sun criminal organizations were fighting each other. The Republic forces were arming themselves and threatening the independent planets. Hapes and the Republic were ready to start fighting. The Correlian sector had pulled out, leaving a vacuum that needed to be filled, and the Duros had jumped at the chance to become a backbone of the Republic. Shooting wars had erupted between some smaller worlds and ships of the Republic. General Pash Crackan, formerly of the Rogue Squadron and now a general in the Starfighter fleet, had attacked the Republic ships.

It was a war that could consume the galaxy. Imperial remains were taking the offensive against Republic ships to increase their borders and Luke was trying to unite the Jedi and find one group that they could call the heir of the Republic.  
Xander had an idea. It was bold and it was probably stupid. He would be forced to sleep on the floor if he told them about it, but it could work. The Imperial remnants, some of them were rather interesting. Most of them were nothing, but separate groups of miniature Empires ruled by a warlord. The strongest was Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaon, the ruler of the greatest and strongest group left of the Empire, and he had asked for peace between them and the Republic.  
Seeing Xander reading, Jaina curled up next to him with her own book. The others could have their adventure, now it was time to relax. After that honeymoon they sure needed some work just to relax.

Nar Shadda was the moon orbiting Nal Hutta and was also called the Smuggler moon. It had been turned into a gigantic city, where smugglers from the whole galaxy traded. It was said among the traders and smugglers, that there were honest people on Nar Shadda, but they moved away.

Letting two fifteen year olds (Chloe was soon to be 16) and one seventeen year old, with only Riley as the adult and an 18 year old Wookiee as backup, walk alone or in a group was not unusual. Many would consider that irresponsible, but Xander was sure they would keep Riley safe and he would keep them away from trouble and he had equipped them all with simple yet effective body armor made by the Jensaarai. The girls had more expensive versions than Riley and Anakin had somehow managed to build his own armor, more advanced than Jacen's armor and on the same level as Xander's or Jaina's.  
Anakin had a skill with technology, while Jaina's skill was pure understanding. Anakin's was an instinctive feeling of what was right and wrong. Xander's skill or was it memory or instinct, he wasn't really sure, was in simply knowing how to repair and use some equipment. Almost like Anakin, yet different.

Seeing that the small hands of Jaina were busily trying to remove his pants, Xander was forced to put down the data-pad. There was something more important happening. He grinned.

*

Out on the town

Rona looked around. The gravity was lighter than on Earth here, you could jump like for miles, but the gigantic shafts that separated the city blocks were so deep that you couldn't even see the bottom. Most city blocks had atmosphere shields and generators on the top floor or the air would leak out into space. It was dirty and overcrowded, and thieves and other criminals were everywhere.

Chloe, being the smart girl she was, kept herself near Anakin, Lowbacka and Riley. Rona wasn't as fearful and she had  
walked alone in New York once or twice.

The roar from a huge monster like beast which was grabbing a green slimy alien larger than she was made her start and when the monster ripped the green things head off and started to loot the body, she changed her mind about her tactics. Quickly she moved beside Riley. This was a bit more then you would see in New York.

Riley wasn't in a good mood. "This place is completely FUBAR," he said, looking around.

Anakin nodded as he stared at the beast like being. "-You will not hurt us. Let us move away-" he said.

The beast, an Esoomian one of the rare sentient beings stronger then a Wookiee and standing up 3.4 meter tall. nodded as it let them pass by, tricked by the Force. Lowbacka tried not to growl out a challenge to the beast. Esoomians were stronger and bigger then Wookiees, but they were strong and dumb.

Riley shook his head. "What are we doing here?" he said, feeling intimidated by the monsters that existed around them. The pay check Xander gave them from the cargo they had delivered wasn't bad, but he was not that happy about things. In USA he was a soldier, recently recruited to a super secret organization called the Initiative. Even he did not know what it really was, only that the leader, a Doctor Margaret Walsh, was one of the many who were kidnapped by the aliens along side with him when they plundered USA's Gold reserve or a small part of the gold reserve, anyway. It had been moved and a big atomic bomb that had been painted with gold had been put in the treasure vault. Then they waited. The signs were clear, after the first 500 000 humans vanished. The aliens were after treasures first, humans last. The gold bomb and thousand of USA military guards vanished and reappeared in a trap. He had a good idea of what happened to the gold and the bomb. It exploded in orbit inside a big bulk transport.

Anakin smiled. "Believe it or not, but you can find anything out here. Some of the best weapon makers work from this place. Riley, you need a gun and so do Rona and Chloe. That's why we are here." He grinned. "Also while the blast west's Xander gave you are good armor against a grenade, it's worthless if somebody uses a blaster." Anakin finished. "We are going to find you some real material to make you a proper armor. Perhaps we can buy old bounty hunter armors and adapt them. Some of the best bounty hunter armors started out as old stormtrooper or clonetrooper armor. We could get one of those cheap." He finished.

Parts of the hard plates on Xander's armor were made out of the same material the stormtroopers used, but it was improved of course.

Rona and Riley were interested now.

Chloe was intrigued. "I thought we just left because Xander and Jaina wanted to be alone and have sex," she said.  
Lowbacka roared out his joy over that.

*

Later inside a dirty old store, Rona looked around with distaste. Then she noticed that the objects hanging on the wall were weapons, sharp weapons, vibro weapons, force-pikes and electro-staffs.

Anakin walked up to the man who owned the store. "We need guns. I was told to come to you," he said.  
The man studied him and slowly he started to grin. "Of course, young Solo." He said, pushing a button.

A wall section suddenly rotated around, showing blaster pistols, rifles, carbines, concussion rifles, concussion carbines and even disruptors.

Riley gave a long whistle. "Well call me impressed," he said in awe.  
The old man grinned; his green hair moved a bit as he switched positions in the chair. "Now what kinds of weapons do you seek, young Solo?" he asked. "Mr. Impressed. Call me Aghog."

Anakin nodded at that. "That I don't know really. I would like a standard DL-22 and Riley he's good with the weapon he tried. "

Aghog grinned. "Well Mr. Impressed or Riley, what kind of weapons are you seeking and what have you used?"

Riley answered "A DL 44 and a sporting blaster. Also some missile handguns, but they feel wrong, too light. They're not me."

Aghog nodded. "Let me show you around some of the heavier handguns." he said. "Does it have to be a blaster?" he asked.  
Anakin shook his head. "As long as it's not a disruptor and the girls are also getting guns, perhaps even other weapons."  
Aghog nodded.

Riley was curious. "Why not a disruptor?"

Anakin grimaced. "It's torture to survive a disruptor wound," he said.

Short moments later in the lower level, by the targeting range.  
Aghog was in full presentation mode. "Now this is the heavy blaster Thunderer, BlasTech T6, ammo 25. Fire rate: 1/Automatic. Class 6.2. Illegal in more systems than I knew existed."

Anakin raised an eyebrow. "Class 6.2? Most carbines, rifles or heavy blasters don't have more than a Class 5 in damage."  
Riley eyes were the size of Death Stars as he lifted the gun. It was top heavy and full of ventilation holes to cool the blaster coils down after each shot. Setting 1 gave him one shot each time he pulled the trigger and setting 2 was full automatic. He could drain the magazine in one pull. "I like it. Could you show me some more?"

Aghog nodded. "A word of advice, the Thunderer, unlike most blasters, lacks the stun setting. It would be good for you to have a back up piece with stun ability." But he knew he had sold a gun there.

Riley had a hard time letting the gun out of his sight. It was love at first sight, for sure. "Good idea. Could you show me a good stun blaster then?" he asked still eyeing the Thunderer.

Aghog frowned, a good stun-blaster, well. "This is a Compnor Stun Blaster pistol. It looks almost exactly like a DL-44, but is smaller, around the size of a sporting pistol, and easy to carry. The ammo is only 10 and it only has one setting for stun."

Anakin grinned: he had seen many of those guns. "Compnor was the Empire's public relationship organization. They had a youth group called the Compnor Youth. They played soldiers and had youth officers training and all. That type of gun was designed by Compnor so that Compnor youth officers could carry a real, but harmless gun. Most Compnor Youth Officers were school children after all."

Riley looked at the harmless gun. "It's like the bloody SS youth." He said, remembering how the SS in Nazi Germany had children's clubs. Organized like the scout movement, but evil and military in its design, created as yet another way for Hitler to keep civilians under control.

Aghog had no idea what the SS was. "One of the biggest successes in stun guns, Law officers around the galaxy often used it as a backup weapon. Build by either BlasTech or Merr-Sonn on license. After the war both companies kept building the stun gun, as a child-safe self defense weapon to protect home and family if needed."

Riley nodded. "I'll take one."

Rona was a difficult customer for the old man. She didn't like the big handguns, yet she wanted the damage and she was a marks-woman. She wanted a small gun with big-damage. Two wishes that rarely worked well together.

Except for one gun, which Aghog pulled forward from the wall. It was a light and small weapon, more like a sporting weapon than anything really dangerous. "This is the Ltd Penetrator MB-450, sporting blaster with ammo of 100. Class 5 and fire rate: 1," he said.

Rona was confused. "Fire rate 1 and Class 5?"

Anakin on the other hand was impressed. "Class 5. That's as much as a normal heavy blaster. Fire rate 1 is you pull the trigger for every shot, no automatic."

Aghog nodded. "It is expensive, the advanced blaster coils and energy reflector give it a power equal to heavy blasters. A normal sporting blaster is between classes 2-3. It's a sport weapon made to hit a far away target and without really blasting huge holes in them. The damage is like that of a hold-out blaster. The Penetrator name is fitting and like other sporting blaster pistols, it has long rage. "

Rona nodded. "I'll take it." She could afford it.

Anakin shook his head. "Wait a moment, Rona. That weapon will need twice or more care and maintenance than a normal pistol. Are you sure?"

Aghog added, "I can sell her the repair equipment and spare parts and I can also include a repair kit."

Rona frowned then nodded. "I'm sure. Come to momma baby." she said, hugging her cute child. Um.  
Chloe was difficult, too. She really didn't like using pistols. "Could you show me a holdout gun?" she asked. "Or something other, I don't know." She fussed. She liked things close and personal in a fight.

A long time later:

Chloe finally nodded. "This one looks good," she said.

Even Aghog looked tired as he answered. "It's a Merr-Sonn, 44. blaster pistol. Ammo: 100. Class 4. Fire rate: Auto/1." That was such a basic a blaster pistol that it existed in million of different versions, all with the same ability.

Chloe nodded. "I like it." she said, smiling.

Aghog sighed in relief. "A good choice, it's a basic blaster pistol that's easy to repair and can last you a lifetime."

Chloe smiled. "Thanks and sorry if I was a trouble." she said, trying and succeeding to look cute.

Anakin smiled at the old man. "Give me six holdout pistols. Good ones which need little or no care, even if hidden away fully loaded. Like inside a ship."

Aghog hummed in thought. "SoroSubb Q-2s5. Scout pistol, also called a biker holdout pistol. Ammo 15. Class 3. Fire rate: 1. It needs little care and can be stored in a vacuumed cargo bay."

Anakin nodded. "Thanks. Now let's buy the other stuff and leave."

Extra power packs, holsters and for Rona, a quick draw holster, and a sight macro scope for Riley were piled up as they concluded their shopping. Chloe wanted some Vibro-Shivs, small throwing stars that vibrated so fast they could cut steel. They each also got lightfoils because they could parry lightsabers.

It was a tired Anakin, Lowbacka and Riley that escorted them to the armor shop. In there the girls, with their armor made by Jensaarai, were silent as Anakin and Riley were walking around. It came eventually to buying the chest armor from some stormtrooper armor with plans to adapt it for Riley. He also got a helmet and a blast suit to wear under the chest piece.  
It looked acceptable. Not good, but Lowbacka was sure they could make it better. A rocket pack or jetpack, it was decided, would be too dangerous unless they had the time to get lessons.

**28. 7-7**

7-7

Next day

Xander looked at the galley table in dismay. It was covered in weapon parts. Frowning he walked in to get breakfast. "I hope you're going to pick up after yourself," he noted to Rona wryly.

Rona nodded. "Yeah, it's just that I have to learn about my gun." She frowned. "What about you Xander?" she asked.

Xander sighed. "I have decided to give up on my joy in using old fashioned Earth guns. So I got myself a new blaster gun, a Bryar pistol." He also had some other weapons hidden away aboard the Enterprise.

Jaina walked out refreshed from the morning sonic shower. "Where's Riley?" she asked.

Rona looked up. "Out for a walk," she grinned at seeing their worried looks. "Hey he's an adult, he can take care of himself," she defended him.

Xander nodded. "Of course," he said. "Let's make breakfast. Later today I'm going to contact Durga the Hutt." he added.

*

In the city of Nar Shadda

Bridges led over deep looking endless ravine like shafts between the different city-blocks. Starships were flying under some of those bridges. Riley shrugged as he moved forward. He had gotten a good price for a speeder bike and was using it now to fly along with the traffic. Parking on a lower level he walked out. The townspeople here were tougher and harder than above, but he found a pub or perhaps it was a tavern, cantina would be a good description, no drinking hole fit it nicely. It was dark inside and the outside was lighted so that everyone inside could see the newcomer in the light of the corridor, while the newcomer would be blinded when entering. Nice set up, Riley thought as he walked inside. A white haired Wookiee with nasty scars watched him from one side. A creature wearing armor ignored him near the exit. A female human - or maybe not - studied him as if he was a side of prime beef. Riley walked up and ordered something to drink. "Whiskey Correlian." he said. The drink was almost like the real deal from Earth. A bunch of credit coins later and the bartender handed him his drink.

The female glided over to him. "Hi there stranger. Buriia Shener." she purred out with a voice like silk.  
Riley nodded. "I'm Yelir," he said. "Always this much life in here?" he said, looking around the place.

Buriaa shrugged. "They come to forget. Why do you come?" she said.

Riley frowned as he felt a pressure on his mind. "Keep your thoughts to yourself," he growled out, holding one hand on his Thunderer as he pushed the compnor stun gun in her side.

Buriaa paled as she felt a gun in her side and saw the big heavy gun in his other hand. "Please, I mean you no harm." she pleaded.

Riley frowned; her face was changing before him. "You aren't human, are you?" he said, pushing her away as he put the stun gun away, still gripping the Thunderer, ready to make lightning if need be.

She backed away fearfully as he pushed her. "I."

Riley grabbed her shoulder. "What were you trying girl?" he said intimidating. Her face was melting away, showing a pale grey looking alien with big eyes and a small nose. He could see she was young.

He let her go. "Trying to trick me, kill me or steal from me, correct?" he said. The girl shivered. "Only steal sir," she said.  
Riley shook his head. "Fucked up world, check out my eyes. There are signs of spice abuse. I'm immune to most mind tricks. Now get lost girl," he said.

The girl just stood there. "Um sir, why do you help me learn?" she said.

Riley shrugged. "A short time ago some asshole captured me and sold me to a fucking slaver. I had to work in a spice mine, black spice. Boosts you mind and body or drives you crazy. That's the reason why the whites of my eyes are grey. I haven't helped you, I warned you, nothing more." He looked at her. "Now get going. The real money is around the spaceport. The tourists don't come down here," he said.

The armored alien watched how the shifter rushed out. "Stranger, you method of warning sounds a lot like helping," it said.  
Riley shrugged. "Perhaps, she could get rich or dead up there." He looked at it. "May I ask what you are and what's your name? I'll buy you a drink if you just tell me your species."

The alien he could now see looked rat like, not all that tall at only about 1.5 meters, but it had some distinct differences. Its fur was white under its armor and it moved with a flexible dexterity that made him shiver. "I, stranger, am a Jenet" it said. Riley nodded. "Got to read up on Jenet's later, curiosity is a weakness of mine."

The Jenet smiled. He could now see that it was female and for an alien rat-humanoid, she looked good, tiny but good.  
"Give the Jenet lady whatever she likes," he said to the bartender, as he gave him some coins.

She studied him. "I am curious as to what your name is. Not your fake name, but your real one." she asked him.  
Riley thought for a moment. "I'm Riley, just simple Riley. What's yours?" he asked her.

She seemed to blush. "My people are rude and tactless by nature, but there's one tradition we hold sacred. A name is always followed with an explanation of our greatness or lack of greatness. No Jenet is allowed to tell of their own greatness. Only another Jenet may introduce us, as well as tell about our merits. I am alone and telling you my name and merits would be rude." She looked at him. "Riley, you may call me Jenet."

Riley nodded. "Jenet it is." He was silent. "So, I'm Riley. I came from a pre-space world, atomic-industrial level of technology. Until some asshole kidnapped me and many others. On my world I was warrior elite, but we were taken completely by surprise and were sold to a spice mine. I worked as a slave until I got rescued."

He looked at her and saw she was fascinated by his story. "I have trained in the art of killing and that's something that, like it or not, I'm good at. Hell, I don't like it, but I am good as a fighting. After I was saved I had the chance to train under some of the best the Republic ever had, that's me and what about you? Could you tell me without bragging?" he asked her.  
Jenet looked thoughtful. "You are with the Republic?" she asked. He just grinned. "No, I said trained with the best they had."

The Jenet nodded. "You did say something like that. Yes." What could she tell him about her species? "Jenets like me have good memory. We can memorize hours worth of information perfectly. Such a memory will never fade and will always remain at perfect recall. Our hearing is extreme. Great ability in swimming and climbing and our flexibility is incredible by the standards of other races," she said, bending her arms the wrong way and then her head, so she was looking backwards.  
Riley whistled in appreciation. "Incredible."

She leaned forward. "I can also mention that we have a great sense of smell. You are attracted to me," she said, smiling or what passed as smiling for her in any case.

Riley swallowed at that. "Sorry." Damn spice mine and not having any females his age around for too long.

She shrugged. "No, I'm not, but you should be. I'm not interested in you and married," she said bluntly.

Riley blinked. "Good. I've been without a human female far too long." He sighed as he walked away from Jenet.

Walking up to the bike, he lifted up, trying to find something worthwhile in this strange place. Half an hour later at the higher levels he finally found something interesting: what appeared to be a club.

Walking towards the club he noticed a guard at the exit. "Excuse me," he said to the guard. "What kind of club is this?"  
The guard turned to look at him. "It's a sex club for short term partners," he said.

Riley nodded, "How much to come in?"

The guard took his money as he entered the club.

Inside Riley was face to face with a cross species swinger club. "O'boy and I just wanted to find a human girl."

The Twi'lek standing nearby frowned. "Why not try something new?" she asked. Riley started to smile. "If I try something new, I would need someone to guide me around the right curves," he said. The Twi'leks female started to laugh as she took his hand. "You sound like an interesting person." she said and he looked dangerous o so dangerous too.

*

Later next morning

The ship lifted off and headed towards Nal Hutta, the large swampy planet the smuggler moon Nar Shadda moved around. Rona had changed her hair just in case and wore armor. Chloe dressed like a cute innocent girl, but she had two hold-out blasters on. At her side was her blaster pistol hanging side by side with her lightfoil. Other than that, she looked far too innocent for anyone's good. Between her big brown eyes and brown red hair she looked quite harmless. Xander just knew something or someone would try something with her. He just hoped that she wouldn't start a war. The palace was big, with many levels and buildings, with its own garden swamp in the Centrum. The landing platform the Enterprise would land on was one of honor.

Durga the Hutt and twenty guards stood side by side. Durga himself was thinner and of better build than most Hutts. Having being forced to work in a black spice mine, his body was as physical perfect as the spice could force it to become. His eyes, unlike most hutt were turned black completely, both the white of the eye and the pupils itself. Durga, unlike Riley, could now survive without Carsunum or Andrise. He knew a way to remove the addiction that had been forced on him.  
As the Jedi Knight and his team walked out, Durga the Hutt recognized Riley Finn as one of the slaves, a former trouble maker constantly trying to escape. Xander he recognized and knew who he was and who Jaina was as well, impressive indeed.

Xander bowed in front of him, "Greetings mighty Durga. From one warrior to another, I give also my respect for your strength in combat and offer you my friendship. May our paths never cross in anger or war, may our weapons never rise against the other." He said, this time looking Durga in the eye.

Jaina frowned. That was an old warrior greeting that Jedi and the Mandalores once used against other strong groups.  
The Hutt nodded. "Your friendship I accept and offer you my own. May our paths never cross in anger or war and our weapons never rise against the other." he replied. "Now young Jedi, how many archives did you seek through to find a fitting greeting?" he asked with a big Hutt smile on his face.

Xander grinned. "Lots of archives, but I never have seen anybody take so many hits from a lightning-gun and survive, or seen anyone keep fighting under such pain, as the pain you must have felt when the two of us walked side by side to battle our enemies. Even if I was behind or sometimes in front of you most of the time." he said.

The Hutt let out a booming laugh. "That is correct Jedi. But do not forget your own courage in fighting your way inside," he nodded. The Jedi had his respect. "Let us rejoin inside. The rain is coming."

They walked inside and Xander snapped his fingers. "Right, I'd forgotten this. It's a tiny gift for you Durga." he said, letting Rona and Chloe hand over a package to one of the bodyguards.

The guard scanned the box, whispering something about a weapon or something similar.

Durga grabbed the box and like a school boy opened it. He started to laugh. "Great gift this is. I will have it mounted on my wall by evening." Lifting up the object inside the package, they could see two lightning guns mounted in an X like position and encased in transparent plastic on top of a trope plate. Under it was written:

-The owners of both weapons were killed by Durga the Hutt.-

Durga gave it to one of his henchmen. "You are not an artist Xander," he noted, but that was one gift the Hutt liked. It was fun. It would show of his battle skill and it would look good on the wall.

Xander shrugged. "No. I do have my weaknesses."

*

Later they were drinking wine, listening to music and talking to other guests and business partners of Durga, many of whom were Hutts. Later in the evening Xander gave, with Durga's blessing, a fascinating tale about the escape. He embellished both his own and Durga's battle and the danger they were in.

The other Hutts swallowed it with hook, line and sinker.

A slimy near-human did try to grab Chloe when the time for dinner arrived. They were all amused seeing the big male near-human being sent flying with a broken arm and shoulder by the innocent looking little girl.

Chloe bowed to Durga after. "I'm sorry I made a mess," she said in a cute voice before sitting down again.  
Riley didn't much like this circus performance. "Why not just talk with him and be gone?"

Rona shook her head. "No, it's all about status. Having been in a battle side by side with a Jedi, Durga must brag and show off or he risks losing the other Hutts' respect."

Riley sighed.

Later, after dinner was done, Durga asked the servants to escort the others to the guest rooms, while he talked to Xander. "It is good to see you again Jedi Xander," he said, using the title to indicate that now it was time for business.

Xander nodded. "The same here, Durga the Hutt, or was it Lord Durga Anjiliar Thokka, Master of the Kajidic Anjiliar and second oldest of the Thokka family?" he said. "And I also know that your new enemy Durga Besadii Tai is desperately trying to buy votes among the council of Hutt."

Durga shrugged. "You could have read that in any computer news." He frowned, "Except about Durga being my new enemy."

Xander grinned. His knowledge came mostly from Rona, who had served as a slave girl. First grilling her about the intricacies of the Hutt families, then reading newspaper, he could guess who would be Durga's enemies.

Durga continued. "Are you sure Besadii Durga is buying votes?" he said with venom in his voice.

Xander sighed. "No. Personally I wouldn't trust my own source about the minor Durga, but in theory, the information does have a logical background."

If he was the second Durga, he would buy votes. He had guessed that someone would buy votes. That would make him a not trustworthy source of information, but it did have a logical background.

Durga nodded. "Call me Durga. It is good to see humans interesting themselves in the affairs of Hutt. But I offered you a reward and that is not something I will change," he said, spooked by the Jedi's knowledge on the possibility that Durga the Minor was buying votes.

He would have to do that also, to make sure his opinion about the Black Sun would win, and he liked the bit about calling the other 'Durga the minor'. He decided that Durga Besadii's new nickname would be Durga the minor, while he would be Durga the greater.

Xander was silent for a moment. "I would like help in creating five fake ID's, for my ship and my crew. As good as you can get them. That's all." he said.

Durga blinked. He had feared what the Jedi would wish of him, but this was downright cheap. "It will be done, any suggestions?"

Xander grinned. "Oh yes, the Excelsior with Captain Hikaru Sulu." he began as his smile turned more and more sinister, eyes glittering in green and yellow as he contemplated what his long dead friend Jessie would say about him, but also how useful this would be as he planned to enter both Republic space and the Imperial Remnant.

Durga listen as the near-human listed the names. He began to feel a bit nervous, as the humans eyes started to glitter in a definitely non human way and the smile of a predator grew just a tiny bit to large on Xander's face. Whomever he was thinking about was a dead man walking.

*

A week later

Durga's slicers and insider at the ship register did above and beyond work with the Id's. Being honored guests at a Hutt palace was an awesome experience. They knew how to spoil guests, but it was not really his way of living. Both Durga and Xander knew they were on different lines in a battle of Right VS wrong, but they did respect each other and in Durga's case felt gratitude.

Xander had offered him friendship and hopes that they would never fight each other. So Durga decided to make sure the Jedi did not have a reason to fight him. Just like Xander made an effort to turn a blind eye to the fact that Durga was both a drug and a slave trader. It was not something he liked doing, but compared to the facts he had about the other Durga, this Durga was a breath of fresh air.

As they left, Xander turned and gave Durga one piece of advice. "I'm not sure, but I do believe you could make great profits in weapons or in turbo-laser tech. Hapes-sectors turbo lasers are twice as slow as the Republic turbo cannons. If somebody would be able to get them a good design, it could be worth something," he said, shrugging as they entered the ship.

So now he had set the ball rolling. Ackbar said that they were trying to ally themselves with the Hapes and the Corellian's. One of the conditions the Hapes asked for was modern turbo-lasers. The Mon Calamari and the Corellian's were reluctant to give them their designs, but if a Hutt representative were to arrive, selling the info the Hapes wanted, the Corellian's would then jump to the negotiation table, if he was lucky.

**29. 7-8**

7-8

Later in space

It was a most relaxed crew that joined together at the galley. Xander put his cup of chocolate down. "Right, I've been on the lookout for a cargo we could take inside the Imperial remnant. 'Cause I really want to take a look at them."

Jaina nodded. "I know, but why Xander?" she asked.

Xander sighed. "You're going to hate me, but I really believe that with Mon Calamari and the Hapes behind us, we together with Luke could mould the remnant into something that could actually become the heir of the New Republic."

Jaina glared at him. She was silent.

Lowbacka was not, he roared out in anger. Anakin frowned. "Xander, don't you understand that they are evil? They use the darkside."

Xander nodded. "Yes, the darkside is evil, but from what I understand, the greatest number of darksiders and Sith are outsiders. The Imperial remnant doesn't trust them. Remember, there is a difference between the Imperial WAR-LORDS and the Remnants. So, not evil, maybe grey, but if we get Jedi inside to mellow them out, we could save them from the darkside and gain a powerful ally."

Jaina nodded thoughtfully at that. "We could look around," she said. "Besides, in the end it'll be Luke and the others who decide."

Xander grinned. "To the deep core we go," he yelled, then pulled out a pair of small packets and showed them around. "This is Yarrock spice." He looked around. "It's a strong hallucinogenic drug. Used too often, the user will become addicted and will suffer psychosis."

Riley frowned. "Why the hell do you have that on our ship then?" he said. Riley really didn't like spice anymore. Specially after having a black spice addiction forced on him.

Xander didn't look the least bit repentant, "Because in the past Jedi and Force shamans used THIS to help them find and explore their mental powers of the mind."

He looked at Rona and Chloe. "The two of you, IF you volunteer, will have the chance to do that, and perhaps we will find more abilities locked away inside of you." The packs vanished inside his robe.

He then turned to Riley. "I have a blessing and a curse, with greetings from Durga the Hutt," he said. "He knew of a way to remove the urge of carsunum from your body and mind. Refined crystalline Andris." It had cost him a small fortune to buy, but he wouldn't be telling Riley that. Seeing Riley's eager face he continued. "It has a side effect. Raw Andris is used as flavoring and keeping food and medicine from spoiling. It also keeps the pain of addiction down. It has many uses. Refined Andris is white and can be used as a sensory enhancement. The senses of the user are improved for a short time."  
He looked at Riley. "But refined crystalline Andris, now that's the real beast, not only will it remove the cursed addiction you have to carsunum, but as a side effect, your ability to sense the world will forever improve. It causes a slight mutation in the nerves of the brain, the eye and ears. Making your see and hear things faster and forcing you brain to adapt to the new experience."

Riley nodded. "So far so good," he said.

Xander nodded. "Yes, but you see, the size of the dose you need to take is an overdose and it could burn out your eyes and ears completely, even crippling part of your brain. Cyber implants would work, but even then your brain would have a hard time understanding what the new eyes are seeing because of the brain damage."

Riley was silent as he looked at the injector as if it was a deadly snake waiting to attack him.

Xander nodded. "I had a good feeling about that, but Durga the Hutt said that Grey Gabaki candles are slightly relaxing and that it makes the process easier if you burn a candle with Grey Gabaki so smoke fills the air if you try this. Grey Gabaki is the only one of the spices that's not addictive or has no side effects at all. If the bad happens and you go blind and lose hearing, I'm planning on having a candle burning near you until we find a cyberdoc." he said. He was wrong though; there were many forms of spice that were not addictive.

Lowbacka nodded and then roared out a question.

Xander nodded. "If it works, then we're going to use the left over candles as relaxation aids." he grinned.

Jaina nodded. "I also got some interesting things from the Hutt. Medical Bactade, it's an edible form of Bacta. It will improve a person's natural healing time. Not as much as a bacta bath, but still greatly improved, and yes, these cookies are legal," she said, handing out a tiny sized package of cookies surrounded by a transparent plastic material.

"I want each of you to put two cookies in your medpac. In case you get hurt." Jaina said as she gave out the Bactade. The rest she put in the ships medbay.

Riley was still thinking about the Andris. "What're my chances?" he interrupted.

Xander frowned. "The fact that you survived the black spice mine indicates that you should survive this without a problem or so the expert said," he said, looking at Riley before putting a single vial of crystalline spice on the table.

It was ready to inject. "I was tempted to stay silent just to keep you safe from this choice, but I have seen you suffer from the addiction and it will never go away. It's constantly draining away your strength to fight it," he said and Riley nodded.  
He often woke up longing for the spice filled air inside the spice mine or just some black spice to eat. It was a nightmare. He sometimes felt a murdering urge, a rage inside of him, against all those that stopped him from finding more Carsunum spice and eating it. The nights when the dreams were bad, he even hated Xander for rescuing him. He looked at the vial and his eyes told the whole story as he read the instruction.

"I'll be in my quarters," he said, leaving them behind. He had an addiction to a candle on the floor slowly filling his cabin with the smoke of Grey Gabaki spice, Riley lay down on the bed and took one look around the room, just in case this would be the last time he would be using his eyes, before pushing the injector with the refined crystalline Andris in his body. Then he fell unconscious.

Spices, there are thousands of different types of spice in the galaxy. One thing common to all of them is that they work across species. No matter what your biology says, it works and in the same way. Bacta is in fact one type of spice. Scientist have long come up with farfetched explanations for explain this phenomenon. The Jedi researchers knew how spice works.  
Spice in any of its forms is alive, microscopic life forms, which force you to feel an emotion or give the user abilities for a short while. Most of them are highly addictive. Carsunum, the black spice, forces physical development on the user, making them stronger, faster and more dexterous. Like a gymnast, if the use has been combined with hard work, above normal limit, strength or flexibility can be achieved. The last thing Carsunum does, is shield the mind from telepaths and mind control tricks.

So far that's the good part of Carsunum, the bad part is the rage, and the emotional swings the addiction gives the user. So strong that it will drive a user to madness and only with the help of Andris spice can a person remove some of his own addiction, but it is always there, pounding in his brain, because Carsunum is a spice that binds itself with the user, like a symbiote or a parasite, constantly wanting more and more of its own.

The high dose of concentrated and improved Andris spice Riley pushed inside of his body, moved like a bull in Barcelona, stopping for nothing. The Andris' ability to fight addictions is well respected. It can also temporarily improve a person's sense of sight, hearing and touch above the normal limit, if overdosed, it can make the air on the skin and inside the lungs feel like sandpaper.

Riley tried to relax, but it was impossible. It felt like he was lying on nails. Inside of him, Andris and Carsunum came face to face. Both related, created by the same type of being and they merged and mutated themselves and their host, as the Grey Gabaki (also a spice) filled the air and slowed down the process of the mutation to a level easier to withstand.

Riley could not sleep or relax, the pain and the pleasure he felt from everything around him was too much. He feared for his sanity and he feared for his eyes and ears as he felt a burning fire raging inside of them.

*

Next day during lunch

Riley came staggering out of the room, with sunglasses on.

Chloe squealed "RILEY" as she rushed towards him.

Riley fell to his knees, hands over his ears and whimpering in pain. "Not so loud. My ears, they're so sensitive." he whispered. "The lights are so bright," he added.

Xander looked at the light control and turned the room half dark. "Better?" he quietly asked.

Riley nodded as he walked up. They could see that his eyes were completely black, glittering black like a crystal.

Xander nodded. "Interesting, I can sense your presence in the Force, but it's difficult to pinpoint where you are. Just that you are nearby, but not where you are." Whatever the spice had done to him had made him difficult to sense.  
Using his sense power, he tried mind control "-Lift you right hand-" he said, as powerfully and focused as he could.

Riley just looked at him. "Why?" he asked feeling nothing.

Xander smiled. "I'm not sure, but it looks like Riley is extremely difficult to manipulate with the Force now. Perhaps he might be immune to Force manipulation altogether."

Riley grinned at that. "Take that, supernatural." he grinned. Then froze as he considered the drawback, his eyes and ears were super sensitive. HE would be able to get used to it, with time, but right now he needed sunglasses and sound protection. Somehow he knew Xander and Jaina with their Wookiee enforcer would help him with training/torture to speed up the process.

As the Enterprise landed on one of Lando's investments, a trading post near the core worlds, to pick up a cargo headed for the Imperial Remnant, they started with Riley's torture/training.

Even with Riley complaining about the evil that was the Jedi Knights, he was training himself eagerly and was constantly coming up with new ways of testing himself. He was strong, fast and dexterous. That had not changed. The black spice had given him Olympic levels of strength and speed, but what was new was that his body's ability to survive damage was indirectly improved, as his sensitivity to Bacta had become lower. It would work faster and had a stronger healing effect on him. He was also difficult to sense in the Force and from a distance of more than 20 meters; he would be invisible to anyone trying to see him using the Force. Closer, they could detect him with the Force, but not know exactly where he stood.  
Lowbacka, Jaina, Xander all tested their skills in lightsaber combat, using a lightfoil against him. The Jedi had a difficult time in sensing when and where he would attack. Only their greater skill in pure fencing allowed them to win.

Riley started to train in close combat using his own lightfoil, which worked perfectly since Rona and Chloe both were training with lightfoils, too. Xander was thinking on giving the girls real lightsabers.

Jaina was forced to leave her beloved X-wing behind, but Anakin and Jaina managed to find and buy a pair of almost new Defender starfighters instead.

The Remnant was different then the old way of the Imperials under Palpatine's rule. The Government of the Imperial Remnant was headed by the Imperial Council of Moffs, an Oligarchy which governed a confederation of sectors. The council also worked as commander in chief of their sector fleets, but the supreme commander could override any or all Imperial military assets, including sector fleets with the councils blessing.

There seemed to be some indication or rumors of an election of a new Moff taking place soon, but the rumors were wild and most former rebels considered the Moff Council to be nothing more than a pack of rabid warlords.

Then Xander had to consider the Imperial Warlords themselves. According to the Remnant, they were traitors to the Imperials, and yet the rebels, even Jaina, counted them to be part of the Remnant.

Old hatreds die hard.

The Remnant seemed to have a more open policy in their armed forces than the Empire did. Even non-humans were welcomed. The fighters they used were a TIE-Interceptor class anti starfighter. I-7 Howlrunner, a multi-environment attack-fighter and last the Preybird-class heavy-attack fighter. The Preybird was like the B-Wing a heavy-attack fighter, but it was actually superior to the B-wing in terms of performance. The I-7 was built by the Empire loyal parts of Income industry. The same company that designed the X-Wing space superior fighter and the E-wing escort starfighter. Thanks to that, the Republic also used a small number of I-7 Howlrunners. Instead of I-7 though, the Republic chose to use X-J and E-Wings instead.

Howlrunners were superior and faster compared to the original X-Wing, the later model X-J was just as fast and the E-Wing was even faster. In space the X-J was superior to both E-Wing and I7, but the I-7 ability in atmosphere combat was greater than the X-J and as good as an E-Wing, although its small compact shape made it easier to carry in a hanger.  
Three different and good ships, the Remnant no longer wasted recourses and pilots. They cared for the life of their troopers.

**30. 7-9**

Note: Our thanks go out to Inachis and shame on us because we forgot to thank her the last two parts. For the moment we have caught up too her so you have to wait for chapter 8 until we get it back from her.

7-9

Later, five days until the Deep Core

With a 0.75 hyperdrive it would take only 3.75 days or 90 hours instead of the normal 120 hour journey to get to the Deep Core. Xander loved his new hyperdrive. Playing with the navcomputer, he plotted a course that would take those 90 hours down to only 80 hours. He was the king. Leaving the cockpit, he entered the hangar / cargo bay.

In piles after piles of boxes were stored grains and other food stuff. Nothing out of order, he continued into the hangar. Where he found Jaina with her ass pointing up into the sky while her legs balanced her, as she was hanging over the engine part of a Defender, he could see from the pair of legs under the ship that Anakin was doing something.  
The two Defenders were tiny close defense fighters. Only 5.3 meter long and box shaped, they were half the size of an X-Wing. They had class 8 engines, three laser cannons, shields and maneuverability type 5.

"So what are you two up to?" he asked.

Jaina managed to turn herself right side up as she turned red faced towards him. "Fixing up these babies," she said. "By boosting the power in the engine we get 100 Mglt in speed, instead of the normal 80 Mglt," she explained grinning. Sure, they had to steal power from one of the laser cannons, but it still had two guns and the engines could handle it. They were class 9 to begin with, but the factory had so many complaints from users who wanted more fire power, that they installed one extra cannon and lowered the speed just to feed that extra weapon.

Anakin glided out from under the ship. "It would look strange if the Enterprise didn't have a fighter to defend itself, what with the hangar door and all."

Xander laughed. "And that is what they are for," he said, nodding. The Defenders were dedicated defense ships.

Jaina grinned. "Not much right now but with a hyperdrivesled and I bet…"

Xander put his hand over her mouth. "Darling, you have an X-Wing at home."

She blinked and then nodded. Xander removed his jacket as he grabbed his hydro spanner. "Right, let's see what we can do." he smiled.

They once again attacked the tiny Defenders, boosting the small engines beyond that the factory specifications said it would and could handle.

*

70 hours later they were officially inside the Deep Core. 10 hours later they were at the gate system. A focus point, where many, although not all, hyper routes into the core world passed by. Star destroyers and other huge battle ship fleets of lesser ships patrolled this system, a system containing nothing except a tiny white dwarf and a space station.  
Patrol ships inspected each and every ship passing by. If they could trick the Imperials into giving them a legal Deep Core traveling pass, it would make the rest of the journey easier.

Xander opened communications. "This is Captain Rednax on the Klingon, armed merchant of the Worf transport company, requesting permission to dock."

The station answered directly, good discipline. "This is Lieutenant Krix Antilles. State your reason for seeking permission to dock."

Xander answered promptly. "I'm seeking a Deep Core traveling pass for the use of trading goods and cargo. For now and in the future, is permission granted?"

The station was silent before an answer came. "Permission granted. State your speed capacity now."

Xander quickly stated that he had a Class 8 engine with 80 Mglt. Even if he actually had a class 9 Improved to 100 Mglt. The voice from the station continued. "Move forward and pass the Star Destroyer Dominion within space range of twenty before moving towards the station. Keep at the speed of 40 Mglt at all times. Have a nice day, captain Rednax."

Xander grinned. "That sounds good. Speed adapted space lanes." he said, relaxing back in his chair.

Lowbacka growled out that the Star Destroyer could easily fire on them when they were that close.

Jaina nodded. "It could be a trap or they could use the Dominion as a scanning ship."

Xander nodded. "Right, just keep cool and fly casual," he said, grinning.

Jaina frowned. "How the Sith spit do you fly casual?"

Xander shrugged. "Um. Fly like casual. You know, like you have Leia watching over your shoulder."

Jaina nodded. "Right, by the book and no funny stuff." she said, grinning.

Lowbacka growled as Jaina powered down the weapon systems completely.

Xander nodded. "I hope all of you have hidden any illegal weapons in the scanning safe hide out. That includes lightsabers," he reminded the Jedi onboard.

Jaina handed out a data pad to each of them. "And here's something Luke and Chewbacca put together. A lightdagger  
hideout disguised as a data-pad, easy to carry with you." Most freighters pilots do have a data pad with them, hanging from the belt or in a pocket, and this one even worked. Jaina put her lightsaber inside R6, just as Xander had his hidden inside his trusted R3. Then he frowned. R3 normally stayed on THE Enterprise. Well, he'd just have to make do with only his dagger.

*

At the same time on the Dominion.

"Captain, a report arrived." a sergeant said as he hurried up to the captain.

Captain Shalla nodded her head. "Good. I see. Klingon is actually the Enterprise." She turned to the communication officer. "Send a messenger to command. Jedi Knight Alexander Harris and Jaina Organa Solo in the Enterprise are trying to infiltrate using the name Klingon. Ask for orders."

The crew tensed.

*

In the Enterprise Xander sighed as they slowly moved past the Dominion. Its big guns were slowly following each of the many ships in the area. He flipped a switch so that he could get an improved look at the ship. "It's impressive," he said.

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, it's a class Imperial 2 subtype Tector," she said.

Xander nodded. "Tenclose. What's that?" he frowned, before pushing a button on the ship computer file, a dedicated ship to ship combat Star-Destroyer.

The Tector had most of its hangers and troopers removed; instead it had an improved hull, improved speed and shields.  
Jaina grinned. "Nice," she said. That was one big bad boy that could eat capital ships, even other Star Destroyers, for breakfast.

The voice form the station spoke again. "Star ship Klingon, you are cleared for landing. Have a nice day."  
Xander grinned. "See, I told you, nothing to worry about."

*

Inside the Star Destroyer Dominion

"Captain, are we letting the Jedi go?" her second in command asked.

She nodded. "Someone above us ordered us to do that. Agents are already on route to spy on their activities. They claim to have a type 2 hyperdrive, so the agents should have plenty of time." She was not happy, thanks to the destruction of the Empire, they had lost almost everything and now chaos and war tormented the galaxy just because some fools tried to recreate the Republic.

*

10 hours later

Sitting in the cockpit of the Enterprise Xander grinned. They now had a traveling pass to Bastion, the capital of the Remnant, and clearing to travel to other less guarded places, under the understanding that he was scouting after future markets for his cargo.

Vjun and Bast castle would be a place they had to visit. The Ghost of Anakin Skywalker said he could guide them to the hidden treasures only he as Lord Vader knew about, but the first stop would be the world Bastion.

It had taken them two hours before the ships and the defense system allowed them to land on the capital.  
Security was tight, especially for strangers.

The world was full of hills, mountains, small oceans and big continents. The capital city was impressive. It filled an area the size of Europe and the starport they landed in had more cannons then he wanted to think about.

*

Later on the planet surface

Riley was doing whatever Riley was doing. Lowbacka kept by the starport, not trusting the Imperials. Chloe and Rona stayed with Anakin, but they promised not to cause any problems. Good, as Xander was more worried about himself and Jaina causing problems. It was just the type of luck he usually had. Especially as it seemed that somebody was using a robot remote to follow them.

Jaina felt nervous. Surrounded by enemies that had tried to kidnap or kill her since she was a new born child, she had a reason to be nervous. "So that is the best price our cargo could get?" she said in a slightly disappointed voice. On the inside she was completely uninterested.

The Imperial officer, an alien with a long grey head that almost looked like a pencil, a Muun, blinked his eyes. "Yes, but do consider that the price is 2.7 above what most planets would pay."

Jaina nodded. "Of course, it's just. It's a long journey here. With 2.7 we go with profits, but we expected more, but it is not too late. I heard that the Remnant has lots of high tech you sell for a good price. We do know places that buy that."

She smiled, hoping the Muun would talk to a fellow merchant. It didn't work.

Xander interrupted. "Is this a good place to work, I mean growing up I heard from other kids that only humans could work as Imperial soldiers and officers." He showed off his necks. "Being amphibious near-human, my dad was denied a place as a soldier. They said he was not what they were looking for." he sighed.

The Muun nodded, eyes shining. "Yes yes. It's a good work as officer. The Remnant offers a fair treatment for all members and the races and species living inside its border. Unlike the Republic, they offer order and safety." he finished.

Jaina nodded, distressed. "I see. What about slavery? We have a Wookiee, they were declared a slave race by the Empire before," she said.

The Muun Officers shook his head. "Past mistakes, I'm sure. Now anybody can become a citizen." A new officer interrupted them, to remind the Muun it was lunch time. The new officer was bright blue with glowing red eyes. "I'm Officer Halnee'Rywtan. Is there anything more I can help you with?"

Xander nodded. "Yes, we're searching for an outbound cargo. Expensive alloys would work, but I would rather see if you have anywhere I could buy medication and high-tech parts. Our firm specializes in armed merchants. Most of our ships have limited cargo capacity, but Worf Transport offers customers maximal security."

The Criss Halnee'Rywtan nodded as it started to help them find out where different cargoes could be found. Going directly to the home world was always cheapest, but not always practical. Landing at a space port cost money. Fuel cost money and repairs caused by overused engines cost money. A good transfer point was often used where cargo from many different places could meet each other. Sometimes a cargo was worth enough that going directly to the home world was the way to go.

Xander put up his wishing list of cargo. "I see that the power injector Sb-23 is build cheap here." It fitted. Lando's yard always needed those parts and the cost of Sb-23 build by Kuat-drive was four times as expensive.

Jaina relaxed as the two started to talk affairs, she felt spies listening and watching, but no malice or anger, just watching. Perhaps they really did not know who they were, they just kept a watch out, after all, they admitted freely that they were ARMED-MERCHANTS. That meant trained warriors working as traders.

*

At the same time in the Admiral headquarters.

"So they are just doing affairs then." Grand Admiral Palleon said. Behind him one of the spies answered. "Yes sir."  
The general at his side frowned. "What should we do? I can have troopers surrounding them with anti Jedi equipment in a minute," he said.

Grand Admiral Palleon frowned "No. I believe they are building a spy network. Amateurs they are, but smart. We will let them continue. Keep an eye out, but let them do it," he said.

The general was puzzled. "Admiral, why?" he said in shock. He was not the only one.

Grand Admiral Palleon looked at him. "If you know about an enemy spy working for the enemy among your own, then that spy is also your spy. While the ships of Worf trading will keep spying on us, we can use them. Show them exactly what we want them to see, in a way. They will be our loyal spies even if they do not know about it."

The general nodded. "Yes sir." He was relieved.

The Moff was more perceptive. "There are other reasons, correct?"

Palleon smiled a thin smile. "The civil war that has started, it will soon bleed over against us. The Jedi and the Skywalker's could be useful allies or even just a shield against the Darkside madness our Emperor Palpatine and his pet Vader created." Saying something like that about Emperor Palpatine would have earned anybody a painful death only a handful of years ago.

The Moff didn't looked that convinced. "What about our Imperial Knights?" he asked.

Palleon shrugged. "What about them? They are a handful of children, half trained and easy to turn to the Darkside. Out there we have Brakis, Lady Lumiya and her crazy pet Hakon and his gang of mad-boys. Lord Flint may or may not be alive and last we have the surviving darkside elite still loyal to Palpatine. Only the fact that they hunt each other and that the Jedi act as a shield protects us from them."

He looked at the others in the room. "In the future, our Imperial Knights could well be the future vision of how a Jedi should be, but right now they are untrained and untested." Eyes narrowing, "The training our Knights have is what? One year? Two years? By trainers who had only limited training themselves."

A guard at the side stepped forward. "Some of them have up to three years sir and I do believe you are underestimating them. The reports say that Jedi Knight Alexander Harris has around one year only."

Palleon looked down at the table. "Perhaps it's my age, but I feel they are too young and it's too soon. In the past, a Padawan learner could stay between 5 to 15 years with their Jedi Master before they were ready to become Jedi Knights."  
He was quiet for a moment. "Arrange a meeting between the Imperial Knights and our impressive Jedi Knights." Looking at a star chart he said, "Now If I was a Skywalker, where would I go? Are there any strange reports from inside the Deep Core, anything?" he asked.

From the side a computer an officer saluted. "Sir, some ships have been lost near Vjun."  
The room was silenced by that. Vjun had a long dark link with Skywalkers.

Palleon growled. "Send out five Imperial Knights with five guards. Inform them that darkside adepts or worse are in the area of Vjun and also that there are Jedi in the area, too, seeking the same enemies. They are allowed to form a temporary alliance while trying to learn as much as possible." Bast castle, the Home of Lord Vader, was build on top of an old Sith fortress.

*

Later in the ship

Riley looked relaxed with his dark sunglasses on. Nobody could see his eyes scouting after problems. "So did you find out anything?"

Xander nodded. "The Council is an oligarchy. Most of the Moff's are elected by a group of trustees. The trustees are in their turns elected by the people." He frowned. "But becoming a Moff is almost a lifetime appointment and there might be only some families were a Moff could come from."

Jaina nodded. "He asked about the people," she huffed. Xander shrugged. "This is interesting. They have changed much. Yet the Republic reports them as an unorganized dictatorship ruled by feuding warlords."

Lowbacka nodded. If they had organized themselves, they could be a great danger.

Jaina nodded. "Well, from what I see, they have abandoned the use of slaves. War criminals can still become enslaved in mines and there was also something about Yaga Drones."

Lowbacka growled out something, typical Imperials, always enslaving the innocent.

Chloe waved her data pad. "I found it. A Yaga Drone is a sexual-neutral version of the insectoid species Yaga. Unless sold by the Yaga, most Yaga drones are put down before they are 18 years old by the Yagas themselves."

There was silence.

Lowbacka held his nuts, as he growled out a question.

Chloe grinned. "Yes, they are born without nuts."

Anakin decided to change subject quickly. "How are we going to Vjun?" he asked.

Xander answered. "We take the long way out. Just to watch things. According to official sources, I have a type: 2 hyperdrive. As we pass the area, we take a detour. Force cloak down to the surface and then back to our normal journey. I think we could get 16 hours play time on Vjun before we would be missed."

They nodded.

Jaina jumped up. "Alright, let's get ready. Lift off time is early tomorrow and if we miss that, is becomes expensive." She clapped her hand as the meeting was adjourned.

*

Later in the evening

Jaina awoke to the feeling that Xander was not in the bed. "Xander, what are you doing?" she asked. Opening her eyes, she could see that he was dressing up in his armor.

Xander swallowed. "If I said there's a space-fly in the toilet, would you believe me?" he asked.

Jaina just gave him the stare.

Xander grinned, "Um. You see. Kyle told me about the government palace here. So, it's just in and out, really."  
Jaina slumped her head down on the pillow, "Do you need help?" she asked.

Xander shook his head. "I'd rather like for you would stay here, if it goes wrong, you and Lowbacka would all need to stand together to help me."

She frowned. "Me and Lowbacka? What about Anakin, my 14 year old brother?"

Xander grinned again. "Would you believe I need his help cause there is a space-fly in the toilet?" he tried again.

This time Jaina roared in frustration as she tossed a pillow at her husband. "You asked HIM, but not me?"

Xander shrugged. "He discovered what I was planning first." he said in a fearful voice.

Jaina finally calmed down. "Alright, are you sure he can cloak?" Xander nodded. "And no fighting gigantic space-flies, unless you have to use the toilet." she said, smiling a bit.

*

Later

Dressed up in armor the two Jedi made their way through town under Force cloaked and Force stealth. Anakin's armor was disturbingly familiar, black on black, but with a mandalorian inspired helmet. He looked almost too much like his grandfather. To Xander relief, the young man was planning to put more color on the armor later and there it was. The government palace, it was huge, covering several city blocks. It was a place that never fell asleep. The guards were constantly guarding every entrance.

Cloaking, the two sneaked inside.

*

Later

Corridor after corridor, the computer image they had copied on their data-pad had guided them to this place. The Military HQ of the Imperial Remnant there are computers banks and security checkpoints everywhere. Sneaking inside a minor computer workplace, the two quickly downloaded whatever information they could about important things and trying to find the real reason they were here. Sneaking away still under cloak, they found the second area they wanted to get into.  
Grand Admiral Palleon's personal shuttle, which once belonged to Grand Admiral Thrawn. The access code was too difficult for Xander skills, which was the reason he took Anakin with him. The kid seemed to have a way to talk or understand machines like nobody else.

He could see that sweat was dripping on Anakin's forehead and then a push sound of air was heard as the entry hatch opened.

They went quickly inside and then they closed the door.

Anakin was a bit worried. "X, are you sure about this?" Xander shrugged. "If I was Thrawn, I would have done it, and if I was Palleon, I would have made use of it."

Anakin nodded as they walked around the ship. His eyes were the size of Deathstars as he looked into the engine room. It was just as Xander had claimed. "Sith spit." he said.

Xander just grinned. "I start to remove it. You go to the cockpit and find out any information we need about it."

Anakin rushed away.

In the main bedroom of the luxury shuttle, Palleon rubbed his eyes as he walked to the toilet. He was just having such a wonderful dream.

Removing the gizmo was harder than expected, but here it was.

Xander eyes glittered in glee. Take that Han Solo. Carrying that thing was not going to be easy, but he tied it as a big heavy backpack using the Force to compensate for the weight and then he sneaked away.

*

Palleon scratched his jaw. Did he leave the engine room open or not? He was too tired for this, quickly walking over he closed the door and walked to his room. It was time to sleep. He would have a hard day tomorrow.

*

In the cockpit Xander, watched as Anakin was removing a part of the sensor system. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Anakin grinned. "They have a miniature crystal gravfield trap installed, a CGT." Xander eyes lighted up.

Now that was smart. CGT detected physical mass. Gravity distortion, it was the perfect sensor to use to detect a cloaked ship and a real cloak was a double blind device. Only a cloaked ship with a CGT could see outside the cloaking field.

Xander grinned. "Let's steal it. After all, Palleon will not be needing it. I have his cloak on my back," he said, grinning like a fool. He did close the protective doors around the cloaking shield generator, so unless someone did a diagnostic check up on the ship, nobody would know.

They just had to do the same in here. "Would it be possible to make the diagnostic computer unaware of what we removed?" Xander asked.

Anakin nodded. "Already done," he said grinning.

*

Next morning

Filling the cargo hold had gone easy. Boxes with power Injector Sb-23, which was a great design to inject lots of pure energy inside the ion chamber of an ion engine and it was also used to improve transports ion engines speed. The Enterprise class 9 used 10 RZ-5 power injectors. They could inject perhaps 70 % of what the Sb-23 could.

"Are you thinking about doing what I'm thinking about doing?" Xander said to Lowbacka and Jaina; both were looking at the SB-23s and drooling slightly.

Lowbacka nodded and roared out an agreement and opened a box, looking at hundreds of Sb-23s sitting there, stacked side by side.

Xander frowned. "Well get your own wife then." he said, making both Jaina and Lowbacka laugh.

Lowbacka slapped Xander over the shoulder, as he growled out something about not being interested in hairless apes.  
Xander grinned. "Right, if we hook these up the right way, how fast do you think the Enterprise would be?"

Jaina frowned. "It's not that easy. One mistake and the ion engine could explode." she reminded them and the faster they improved the engine to be, the more maintenance and repairs it need.

They just nodded. In theory the Class 9 ion-engine could be improved to equal a Class 13, but it was unlikely that they could do it without destroying the engine in the process.

"Right now I have it up to a class 10. If we use these, we could reach a class 11, without too many problems." Xander said.  
The two were drooling at the idea. That would make her as fast as an XJ-Wing or a TIE-Interceptor and of course Lando would love getting his hand on the Sb-23s.

Jaina sighed. She would have to upgrade her XJ-Wing.

Finally the time had come and they lifted off. Up into space and away.

Xander looked at Anakin, the kid looked a bit tired, but the two of them had pulled an allnighter. "Did you finish it?"

Anakin nodded. "Yeah, did you install the sensor?" he asked in return.

Xander nodded as he switched it on. Unlike most sensor arrays that needed a reflection disk or a focusing antenna, the CGT could be installed completely on the inside of a ship. The CGT, worth millions of credits, was now installed behind the nav-computer.

The other watched how different spots appeared on the sensor screen. "Right, the gravity of the planet is jamming us a bit.

But look at that." he said in awe. Even a micro sized CGT such as theirs had an extremely long range compared to normal sensors. Even if the details were not as accurate.

It could detect a cloaked ship the size of a TIE-Fighter. Not identify what it was, just tell how much it weighted and what size it is.

Jaina looked at them.

Lowbacka looked at them. Then they turned to each other and started to whisper.

Lowbacka grabbed Anakin in a hard grip around the shoulder.

Jaina grabbed Xander by the neck. "Alright, listen you two clowns. What did you do last night? Or no sex for a month."

Lowbacka growled that he knew how to rip off a human arm and he would do it, friends or not, unless he was told what he wanted to know.

Xander looked at Anakin. He had all the luck. He'd just be losing an arm. "Alright, I'm going to tell. I was told about Thrawn's method of using cloaked weapons and I found out that Thrawn used a shuttle. Knowing bad buys, I guessed he would have an advanced shuttle. Then we found out about Palleon being the former right hand of Thrawn. I suspected that Thrawn's personal shuttle was in Palleon hands now." He looked at them. "Now you understand what I stole, right? You don't?" He said in a surprised voice.

He sighed. "A CGT-Sensor, it makes using our newly installed cloaking shield more effective." It was obvious.  
Jaina was perplexed. Once again Xander had done it. Gone from A straight to Z without stopping by B or C. He thought it was all logical, but it was not logical at all. She suspected it was a Force talent of Xander's, some form of precognition or something. She could see Lowbacka had made the same connection.

They silently wondered whether Xander knew about this or still actually believed it was all perfectly logical.

*

Down on the ground

Palleon morning routines' had just started. According to diagnostics on his ship, everything was good, but better check once too many than once too late. "Right, inform the planet off their flight path and keep an eye out for where they go." It was time for him to inspect his flag ship. Normally he used a normal shuttle and a pilot, but this was the best shuttle in the galaxy. A class 10 Ion-Engine and a type 0.5 hyperdrive, it also had class 4 military shields and a working CGT and cloak shields that nobody knew about. As he piloted the ship up, he relaxed. The sensors showed nothing unusual. That was good. Normally he had the CGT turned off to stop others from finding out that he had one.

IF he had activated it he would have noticed that something was missing.

*

Out in space the Enterprise vanished on its way to Vjun.

Riley, Rona and Chloe watched in stunned fascination as Lowbacka was dancing and holding both Xander and Anakin in a mighty Wookiee hug, while Jaina was laughing her head off.

It sounded like the young Wookiee was singing we are the champions.

End of Chapter 7

**31. 8-0 and 8-1**

Note: Ok it looks like Inachis couldn't see that we caught up to her and so she sent back two new parts. So thanks again, but with posting those two parts in one we caught up to her again (for now).

8-0

"Acid rain, barren landscapes and hostile life forms, you can see that and much more on the planet Vjun. Tourists, form a line." Xander said in amusement. This planet really was a piss poor place to visit. "What the hell were you thinking?" he yelled at the ghost of Anakin Skywalker.

The other stopped a moment as they turned and looked at Xander as if he was crazy. A strange bluish light could almost be seen near him by the non-Jedi. Riley saw nothing, but he could see the others look at something he did not see.  
The Jedi could see the transparent image that Xander was talking too.

Xander rolled his eyes. "I understand evil, but being evil has nothing to do with being stupid. Hell, sure you were incased in a cybernetic survival suit, right. Remember cloning technology, why didn't you just clone replacement parts and have them grafted into your body?"

The ghost of Anakin said something.

Xander froze. "Oh. He stopped you from doing that with mind control." He saw the ghost nod. "How, when you were stronger than him? No, I get it, he used your own anger as a path to control and manipulate you." The ghost nodded and it looked like it wanted them to hurry up. Xander sighed. "Right, Anakin the old one said we should hurry up, a bunch of darkside cultists are trying to see if there's anything here to retrieve."

Chloe was startled by what she could see. "I see dead people," she said in surprise.

Xander shrugged. "They're everywhere. Sometimes they arrive at night, trying to teach me. It's kind of cool really," he said, but they couldn't see his smile as he had his helm on.

Anakin the younger said: "Thanks grandpa!" Jaina nodded. "Yes, thanks grandpa." she said smiling. It kind of sucked that visiting the living was difficult for the dead. It cost them energy that it could take years to recover, but Xander was different, any ghost he accepted seemed to have no problems in coming by and saying hello.

Riley shivered. Seeing dead people? Wait a moment, darkside cultist?

It was lucky they had landed behind the huge tower like Bast castle. Xander was forced to go first as he had a guide. At the walls of the castle a hissing sound came from the cliffs and swamps around them.

Anakin Solo hissed in worry, he had been here before. He pulled up his lightsaber; a weapon that had once belonged to Jedi Master Kenobi and had been found on Vjun. "Darkside dragons," he said as they crept forward. They were the size of a pony at the shoulder, but twice as long. Their legs were longer than a crocodiles, but their jaws were similar, although wider at the base.

Rona lifted her penetrator and prepared to fire. Then she froze. A paralyzing fear kept her still. She could not fight or flee. Beside her Chloe was having the same problem, but her more advanced skills in the Force gave her increased resistance. She shook of the feeling as she lifted her model 44 blaster pistol.

Beside them Riley held the Thunderer in one hand and the weak stun blaster in the other. "I need an extra Thunderer," he commented as he aimed.

Jaina shivered. "Do you feel that?" Xander nodded "They use the Force."

Anakin nodded. "The darkside dragons can use the Force to paralyze and put fear in their prey. Willpower and strength in resisting the Force or the darkside can block it," he said, holding his blaster gun and lightsaber at the ready.

Xander snorted. "You don't say," he said, removing his helmet. Opening himself up, he found the alpha. The two stared straight in each other's eyes. Around them the other dragons pulled back.

Rona swallowed; she had never been so afraid before. There were two attacks, one that froze the very muscles of her body, no, ordered her to stay still and not run, and the other attack made her afraid, unable to focus. She gritted her teeth.

They watched as Xander walked up to the dragon, petting it. It slowly crawled away to find less dangerous prey.  
Anakin Solo gabbed in amazement. "How did you do that?"

Beside them Anakin Skywalker wanted to know the same thing, so far only the darkside could tame a dragon, using the Force and fear.

Xander shrugged. "It's all about communicating with the beast. Explaining that you do not taste good or are too dangerous to eat," he said. The dragon was an impressive beast. Perhaps Jaina would let him…

Jaina looked at her husband. "No, you cannot have one as a pet." she said, just to make sure.  
Xander nodded with a sigh. "You're right. They're too big anyway." They needed something the size of a cat or a dog, so it would fit in the ship. Both Anakins, live and dead, kept silent about the fact that this planet also had darkside lizards, which were basically cat sized darkside dragons.

Slowly, with Riley and Lowbacka leading the way, they entered the castle. Xander was guiding them inside, with the spirit of Anakin Skywalker showing him the way. As Darth Vader he had many trophies, which he had hanged on walls for others to see, treasure rooms that would impress and mislead others. Deep inside, he had a room even he had seldom entered unless there was need. There he kept his private treasures, some were from his marriage with Amidala and others were artifacts. Weapons he found and was planning on using on Palpatine, once he was sure he could win and become the new emperor, but then Vader died and Anakin Skywalker was reborn again as his son and he killed Palpatine. Now the treasures were hidden and most of them should stay hidden forever.

With darksiders around, Xander and the other Jedi used a bubble of Force cloak to render them invisible. They saw one of the darksider's minions, a soldier with armor. Not a standard stormtrooper, that was sure. His body was augmented by Sith alchemy to make him a better warrior, Xander reflected as they passed him by. Thanks to the Force Guardians and Riley's experience with black spice, he too could have said that he had augmented warriors walking beside him.

Then they were there. A big wall in a repair bay, with old TIE-Fighters hanging on the wall. Weapon parts, even holographical technical prints of the Star Destroyers in Darth Vader's own fleet, were seen projected in the air.  
Jaina was awed by the sight. "Is this..?" she said. Anakin nodded. "Our grandfather had our love and understanding of technology," he said.

Xander kept his voice quiet, but told them: "It was here, where Vader came when he wanted solitude. He build, repaired or improved starships, weapons, armors and medical equipment, using only repair droids as help. It was meditation, a way to escape the constant pain he was in."

Riley listened. "What did he do with the stuff he built?" he asked.

Xander sighed. "Most of the things he build, he just gave away, and he repaired anything he found interesting. Most were TIE-Fighters. Easy to access and he loved small ships. The first time he flew in combat, he was a nine year old boy who accidentally started the auto-pilot in the star fighter he was hiding in."

Chloe giggled. "What happened?" she asked.

Xander grinned. "He managed to get in the winning shot at the enemy command ship, but he said that at the time he had NO idea what he was doing. He was trying to survive, not win the Battle of Naboo. The place his future wife was once the queen of."

They were silent for a moment. Thanks to Luke and R2 they knew now about Naboo and Amidala, but not much more. Xander had more time talking to the ghosts, especially Anakin Skywalker.

Xander lifted his cloak as he had to be visible to do this, and walked up to a wall used to project images on. Focusing his anger, but not letting the darkside take over, he pushed his hand on the wall and sent a strong wish straight into it. Suddenly the wall seemed to melt in front of them and a great door was revealed.

"Wait here. Riley, you're with me." Xander said and the two vanished through the door. Jaina swallowed as it closed behind them. Inside were darkside objects that could corrupt even the truest of the Jedi. Riley was almost immune, but Xander? Could he take it? Could they trust the judgment of Anakin the dead, also once know as Lord Vader?

*

On the other side of the door

It was big corridor leading to nine rooms. "Remember, do not touch anything, unless I say so." Xander said as they walked by room after room. It was Rooms 9 and 8 that they were after. No other room would or should they enter. Oh, but the power that he felt. He would be able to bring peace to the galaxy, if he just entered and used what he found inside the rooms.

A hand on his shoulder surprised him. "Hey, you said rooms number 9 and 8, not five." Riley said.

Xander blinked as he looked where he was actually walking. "Right, sorry, almost got tricked there."

Riley nodded. He could understand that.

Room 9 was different. It looked like a shrine. Pictures of a young beautiful woman were seen everywhere. Sometimes she stood side by side with a young man.

Xander smiled sadly. "It's his wife, Queen Amidala, and also pictures of his own mother. He felt Luke and Leia should know more about them. Could you help me pack away the pictures and journals for them?"

Riley nodded as he helped Xander put things away in the boxes they carried for the purpose. It didn't take long to empty that room. Anakin knew that in fits of rages he had destroyed so much of what was once inside of that room. Sitting, left behind in the room, was a tiny crib he had build long ago for his babies Luke and Leia to sleep in.

Room No 8 wasn't anything like Room 9. Inside this room he had stored artifacts belonging to the lightside of the Force. Headbands belonging to the Miruluka, near-humans who were born without eyes and used the Force to see with. Artifacts from the Baran Do, masters of using farseeing and meditations to a degree most Jedi are unable to learn. Most Baran Do are unable to learn telekinesis or external manipulation of the Force, but true masters of Baran Do wait until the exact right moment before acting. Other artifacts, of the Finds man, the Gand masters of the Hunt, a strange and bizarre religious cult of Force users that focused only on the ability to find what they were seeking. He had seen for himself that the Finds man methods worked. A Jedi that managed to learn them would gain a great skill indeed. The Mutakai of the Baran Do focused on their senses. The Mutakai focused solidly on channeling the Force to improve their own body's way of moving. By years of hard training, a follower of the Mutakai path could outfight any normal Jedi or Sith as long as no external Force powers were used. A small scroll with a training description of the Zeison Sha order, who were firm believers in independence and self-reliance. They believed the Force was a means to defend themselves and their family, but also to aid others, and never for greed. They were suspicious of the Jedi, and feared or hated the Sith.

He even had a scroll that once belonged to the Dai-Bendu order. The order that during the first great schism over 25 000 years ago broke up into the Jedi, the Sith, and the pacifist Monks of Bendu. Last, and most interesting for the non-Jedi, would be his collection of artifacts belonging to the Antarian Rangers. They were a group of volunteer soldiers, a paramilitary group that decided they would aid the Jedi order. Luke already had a small group of lose organized followers. Some were heirs of the Antarian Rangers that were dedicated to helping the Jedi. With the training manuals and description the Rangers could once more join the Jedi and protect the galaxy.

Riley and Xander walked in, the treasure room was big and filled with books scrolls, even lightsabers and other weapons.  
"Those are training lightsabers." Xander said in awe. The technology to build those had been lost and in here they had real training blades and the blueprints for making more. A training lightsaber or a stun blade caused a burning feeling if you hit skin, no more than that. It could scrape away paint, but not harm anything harder than that. Yet the training saber had an energy blade so strong you could parry a lightsaber or blaster bolts with it, just like a real lightsaber. The children in the Jedi temple used these to learn under the watchful eyes of Yoda and the Jedi Masters.

Riley nodded as he opened the empty boxes. "More to carry." he sighed.

This room took time to finish, but by the end they had emptied it completely. A pyramid of boxes, twice their height, was stacked by the exit door. Xander opened the door as he quickly floated the boxes out. "Let's hurry up," he said. Each Jedi focused as they lifted and carried boxes and cloaked the whole group. It took them two turns before they had stored it all on the Enterprise.

*

It happened as they prepared to fly away.

Anakin was the first to notice it. "Did you feel that?" he asked.

Xander and Jaina were next. "Yea, it's a battle," he said.

Lowbacka growled out. –Someone is screaming for help, it's a Jedi or a lightsider-

They all nodded.

"Chloe, Riley, you follow Lowbacka to the fight. Me, Jaina, Anakin and Rona are taking the short cut." Xander said, pointing at the swoops.

Lowbacka growled out an agreement. They had only 3 Swoops and 4 Jedi, if they counted Anakin. The Starslinger swoop could carry 1 passenger. The other swoops could not.

Xander just waved his hand and the swoop lifted up, its repulsor engine whining, as he activated the twin ion engines to warm up. He jumped in its seat, Rona behind him.

Jaina whined: "I have to buy one of those. We're so going to do that later," she said.

Xander nodded as he closed his eyes. Rona shivered at that. "Do you have to do that?" she whined. Having a blind driver always spooked her.

Riley frowned. "He really does drive blind?" he asked.

Jaina just sighed. "He's afraid of the speed," she said, sitting down on her swoop.

With a roar like a hungry dinosaur at breakfast the 3 overpowered swoops drove away. They found the battle at the top landing platform. Nine darkside users against five lightsiders, Xander was about to say they were Jedi, but they wore red armor marked with the symbol of the Empire.

They were clearly outmatched.

The battle stopped as the swoops came to a full stop, right beside a fallen stormtrooper.

"A party? Why didn't anybody give us an invitation?" Xander said as he jumped of his swoop. "Rona, blade and blaster, stay alive." he ordered the girl.

Activating his lightsaber he prepared for combat, but the darksiders just starred in awe. "Lord Vader, you, you are alive?" one shuddered in fear as he backed away.

Standing on the fallen statue of Lord Vader, partly hidden by the smoke from burning weapons, and wearing his night black armor and cloak, stood the now 15 year old Anakin Solo. He looked just like a younger Vader as he lighted his blade. The illusion was broken as they could see his helmet mirror the light of the blade.

"Die Jedi!" one of the darksider minions screamed as he attacked with his blaster. A rain of deadly ball bearings filled his body.

Jaina lowered her hand after using her skill to turn the ball bearings into a deadly attack. "Like my husband said. Why did you not invite us?" she said, activating her saber.

The darksider was dismayed. First the five, now four, Imperial Knights, badly trained, but still getting in their way, and now three Jedi. Two of the young Jedi they knew: Anakin and Jaina, grandchildren of Lord Vader, powerful and dangerous, regardless of how young they are.

The last Jedi they were not sure about and then there was Rona. The girl was not a Force user, but something was strange about her. She had a deep feeling in the Force, powerful but not Jedi.

One of the darksiders looked at his minions. "Take the girl. We take care of the Jedi," he ordered.

Rona swallowed as she focused her inner strength. She had the skill, the knowhow, and was four times as strong and fast as normal humans were. A speed and strength she could double for short moments, if need be.

It was like a flash and Rona vanished. Only the Sith and the Jedi Force powers helped them sense her as she rushed towards the group of soldiers. Her Penetrator fired as fast as she could pull the trigger and her lightfoil started to cut the moment she was in close enough.

Around the room the battle started again.

Xander waved his hand, lifting the broken off head of Lord Vader's statue, and sent it like a missile against the darkside devoted. The darksider squealed as he parried the gigantic head of Lord Vader, but it was too late. The squishy sound his broken body made was hidden by the crunching sound of the statues head hitting the ground.

The leader of the darksiders attacked Anakin, only to end up facing Jaina. Xander dived in, lightdagger and lightsaber in his hands, as he parried two darksiders at the same time. Dodge, stab, parry, slash, cut, Force push, and the three danced around each other, trying to find an advantage. Xander was in trouble.

Then the four Imperial Knights stood up and joined the battle. 8 against 7 it was a fair fight, but the Imperial Knights were hurt, drained in strength and could barely fight. Xander noticed that, as one of the Imperial Knights failed to parry a flying rock and was down. The second to fall dodged a lightsaber attack, but got burned in the back. But just at that the Imperial Knight fell down, too hurt to fight any longer. Jaina parried the attack and used her Force push to distract her opponent as she came in close. She parried his lightsaber with her right hand while driving her left hand hard in the darksiders face. As he stumbled back, she slashed hard, cleaving his head in half. Just as the second Imperial Knight fell down, she killed her fist opponent in this battle. Xander was next. With a crippling attack he removed both legs and one arm in one motion. An old Jedi attack Obi-Wan Kenobi had told him about. Anakin Skywalker said it was remarkably effective, especially if you used two blades. He spoke out off experience.

On the side, Rona was fighting the minions. Beside her she had the Imperial Guards, strong and powerful warriors all. In a shoot it out match, they managed to slowly turn the tide of combat onto their side. It was not over yet, but Rona and one of the troopers hurried over to the wounded Imperial Knights. Close by, she could see that they were not stormtroopers, the armor was in a different grey and the helmet had bigger eye holes in it.

"Here, it's Bactade. It speeds up your healing," she said, handing the two fallen lightsiders her Bacta cookie from her med pack. Both looked curious, but swallowed the candy sized cookie. It didn't look like it tasted particularly good. Just seconds later, as the guardian carried them to safety, he could see that both of them had more color in their faces and the pain from the bleeding burn wounds seemed to be less powerful. He grabbed the closed med-pack and started to work. Bactade, his med pack scanner approved the use.

As the guard finished off the treatment Rona was in the middle of combat again. Her penetrator fired deadly accurate blasts of plasma at the enemies and she constantly moved, dodged, jumped and changed positions. Where ever the battle was going bad for her allies, she arrived shooting or cutting her way with the lightfoil. Surprised, she even managed to parry some blaster bolts with her lightfoil. She hated to kill sentient beings, but the feeling she got from the darksiders was evil and disgusting and these guys felt infected or something.

Just as she considered that, one of the minions, augmented by the power of Sith alchemy, jumped down just behind Rona and grasped her arms. The man was strong, easily four times the strength of a normal man, just as Rona was four times as strong as a normal girl. Just as he had, she too had improved speed and strength, but she also had improved flexibility.  
As the brute managed to knock out her weapons and smash her face in the wall, Rona shivered as she felt her nose ache with pain. The brute held her stuck, both of her arms were trapped and he was bigger and had longer range than she did, using only his arms.

She growled out, as she twisted her body, kicking up her legs and bending herself double. She caught the surprised man's neck between her own feet. His head was trapped, just as she was trapped in his arms. She started to twist as hard as she could.

In pain the man dropped her and Rona's arms were free, she quickly fell down, swinging crazy from the brute's neck, his arms now holding her feet, stopping her from breaking his neck. Rona had no plans on doing that, as she was swinging around, she reached out with her arm and snatch the man's own blaster pistol away from the belt were it was hanging the whole time.

The brute noticed that she had stolen the weapon he had forgotten about, and with one powerful heave he forced her feet to let his neck go. As Rona fell to the floor, she landed like a cat. The brute was moving fast now, trying to attack her before she pulled the trigger.

He did, but was faced with a super power kick that send him flying backwards. Before he landed, Rona was standing and shooting with full auto until the power pack was drained by the blasts she put in his body. The brute was dead before his body had hit the ground. She quickly dropped his weapon and found her own.

The battle was not going that well. Six against five, the darksiders were slowly pushing them back. Xander wondered where Lowbacka was and whether he was taking the tourist path. Using telekinesis and sending Force pushes, Jaina and Xander were moving the fight away from the wounded and from Rona, who was having more luck with her side of the battle. She even had help from a group of stormtroopers, who apparently served the Imperial Knights.

"Xander, I can't keep this up." Anakin panted. He was too young and not trained enough.

Xander swore as he pushed the darksider away from Anakin with a Force push. The young man was on his knees.  
Xander was not happy. They had gained no victory and where was their backup? Then one of the darksiders' head exploded from a blast of a T-6 –Thunderer heavy blaster pistol. The cavalry had arrived. Now they were five darksiders against six lightsiders. Lowbacka had joined the fight.

Jaina called out, "Go and help Rona and Chloe. Thanks Riley for keeping her safe."

Riley nodded. He had managed to get one free shoot in. Moving in cloaked, he noticed that he was unable to attack enemies. That was the nature of the Force cloak itself, but the moment the cloak was no more, he fired his gun. He loved his heavy blaster pistol, the T-6 –Thunderer. With 5 against 6, the tide of battle has turned. Anakin still needed to regain his strength.

Xander growled. "So, what are you. Sith? Dark Jedi? Or just idiots that lost their way?" he asked one of the darksiders.  
"We are Sith Marauders," he said proudly.

Xander hummed. "There you see. I learned something new today." He let the lightdagger shift position from a high shoulder to low, pointing down at the floor between them. The first position was better against powerful strong attacks on your upper body and the second one was an all around defense position, one with no real strength, but also no real weakness, except against powerful attacks, as it relied more on speed and evasion. The lightsaber he held in a reverse position, pointing almost behind him. Good for a quick fast defense, not attack.

Jaina looked at him. Xander was giving the darksider bait. Lowbacka stilled, he knew what Xander was doing and waited for his turn.

"Marauders? What do you do? From what I can see, your strength is weak. Your skill is low. So, I get it, you are errands boys." Xander said and somehow managed to snap his fingers while holding two weapons.

All five Marauders growled in anger as they attacked.

As the leader attacked, lightning surrounded his lightsaber while he rushed Xander. Xander let the lightdagger help, pushing the first powerful attack away as he rolled to the side and send the darksider past him and right at Jaina who was waiting.  
One quick slash from the dodging Jaina and the darkside Marauder's body was cut in half. They had trained in team combat, unlike the darksiders.

Meanwhile, Xander's lightsaber suddenly parried the lightsaber attacking Lowbacka. The Wookiee wasted no time as he grabbed the arm holding the lightsaber with his left pawn. Using his Wookiee strength, he lifted the darksider up in the air, lightsaber and all. The he started to swing him around like a rag doll or a big club.

Xander dived for protection as he joined the Imperial Knights' fight. He came up between the two darksiders and his lightdagger parried the enemy on the left and the lightsaber the one on the right side. The two Imperial Knights were stunned and too tired to act as the two Marauders pulled back.

Xander growled low in his throat. "Give up and live." he ground out to the two darksiders. They stared then used a combined and powerful Force push against them. Xander was pushed hard in parrying that attack.

Suddenly the pressure ended as Lowbacka used his Marauder-club in attacking the two remaining Marauders. Lowbacka's club looked rather hurt by now. His right arm had been ripped off by pure Wookiee strength and his left arm did not look much better, although it was still attached to his body. Being slammed down like a club in the floor had been the end of him.  
Lowbacka growled intimidating at the two left over. –Give up or die- he said.

The two raged as fear and anger filled them. "DIE JEDI DIE" they screamed as they attacked. Force push and telekinesis made the room explode as anything and everything was turned into a weapon.

Jaina parried, using the Force as Xander and Lowbacka attacked, up close and personal. As Lowbacka's lightsaber slashed one Marauders arm, giving him burn marks, the darksider lost control completely and he screamed. It seemed like hours, but was over in just a second.

The Marauder had lost control completely and a Force scream was pushed out from him. The air around him exploded with malice and hate. Dark shadowlike lightning burned everyone within a radius of 50 meter.  
Close by it was like standing in the center of a fire bomb.

Xander tumbled back and Jaina and Anakin moved back. Each of them grabbed their friends with the Force and moved both of them away from the center of the explosion. Using the Force to shield themselves from the wave of energy, they crashed down behind a pillar.

After the explosion, the darksider was left kneeling in a large crater. Empty eyed, he looked more dead than alive at that moment. His own Force scream had burned him out. It would take days before he would recover, if he recovered.  
With burned fur Lowbacka was happy that he had armor over large parts of his body. The two Imperial Knights were hurt, but alive.

The other darkside Marauder had been closer to the center of the maelstrom. Only a skeleton remained.

"What happened?" one of the Knights asked in awe and confusion.

Xander sighed. "Force scream, it's not a darkside skill. It's a darkside mistake," he explained. "When a darksider delves too deep in the darkside and gets hurt, they sometimes lose control. They completely explode with everything they have," he said, walking up to the Marauder, tapping him on the head with his finger. "Days, weeks or months, some darksiders never survive it or lose their ability to use the Force permanently. It's a power that darksiders always try NOT to use, as it uses them, not the other way around. What's even worse for them is that a Force scream is more deadly for other darksiders than those who are using the lightside." He finished his explanation, looking at the bony remains of a darksider that had stood further away from the center of the explosion than he had.

The Marauder just sat there, rocking back and forth as if he was listening to music. Like Cancer, that was the nature of the darkside.

Jaina poked her foot in the leftover of the other darksider. "So what now?" she said.

Lowbacka growled –I want to know who these guys are-

Xander nodded. "Let's see if there's more battle left out there. Then we can talk." he said to the Imperial Knights.

8-1

Later

Setting up camp the two groups exchanged food as a sign of peace. The strangers said they were Imperial Knights, part of a lightside organization that believed in order and cooperation on a galactic scale.

Xander nodded at that. Jaina frowned "And you believe the Empire is the future of the light?" she asked.

Lowbacka growled, irritated.

Xander shrugged. "Perhaps not, perhaps it is, but the Empire could become part of the future. That I believe in. The Republic was swallowed up by greed much too fast. The Jedi order needs to start from the beginning. The first constitution of the Republic was formed 25.000 years ago. Yet the Republic, according to history books, was truly formed only 10.000 years ago, after the 1000 years of darkness." he spoke as he ate.

The 1000 years of darkness was a period during which the Republic had been taken over by a religious sect that outlawed Jedi or Force users. Many Jedi died fighting the fanatical President of the Republic. In the end freedom had returned.  
Ynnes, one of the female Imperial Knights, frowned. "So what, that's ancient history," she said.

Xander nodded. "Yes, but did you not listen? It took 25 millenniums to form the First Republic. The whole time it was guarded by Jedi to stop it from falling over to corruption. Then 4000-5000 years ago the big Sith war happened and the Sith moved into the open again and it was all ending in the Jedi civil war. The Jedi order was formed in a more focused form then, to stop the risk of a return of the Sith and to keep their Knights under control. 2000 years ago the Sith did return, in a big war that ended in many dead. From that point on, the Jedi Order tightened its grip and started to control who could and who would become a Jedi. Training started the moment they could walk and Jedi could no longer get married. Some did violate the directive or were given special dispensation. Like the Correlian Jedi."

He looked at them. This was one thing the ghosts and he had talked about, "The number of Jedi shrank and corruption grew out of control. In the end all Palpatine had to do was push."

Helak Antilles frowned. "So, to create order in the galaxy you have to start slow?" he guessed.

Xander nodded. "Yes. This is a start, but the Jedi have to cooperate with other lightside organizations and they have to work with us. Control and perfect order is an illusion. There are too many species for them to ever completely unite. Compromises like the Republic are a good solution. Start with a small group, joined together with Jedi and Imperial Knights protecting them, and let it grow on its own." He grinned. "The trouble is finding who the true Heirs of the Republic are."  
The two groups were silent, eating as they contemplated what Xander had said. It did make sense. The Imperial knights could not give the Jedi the coordinates to their home base, but they did give away a contact so the Jedi could talk to them. Both knew that there were two sides to a future war and they could be forced to fight each other in the end.

Xander nodded decisively. "Right. What should we do with the darkside coma guy and Mr. Stumpy?" he asked, referring to the last surviving Marauders. Stumpy was the one that had only one arm left, both legs and one arm was missing after Lowbacka's treatment.

One of the Imperial Knights answered him. "We can take care of them," he said.

Xander frowned then nodded. "I'm not sure, but he might be permanently Force blind after that explosion." The most experienced of the Knights nodded, he believed so too, but you never knew, he could have his power suddenly return.  
As their group walked away, Xander cloaked them and made them vanish from sight, leaving the Imperial Knights that followed them surprised.

*

Later in the ship

Decloaking at a far distance to Vjun, the Enterprise rocked into hyperspace. Chloe was high on a sugar rush. The battle was awful and yet she felt it was the right thing to do. Protect others. She had the power and with great power comes great responsibility. Like the comic Spider-Man had always said. "Jaina, Xander" she said, looking as cute as possible. "Can I join the Jedi order? I. I have powers. Not like a Jedi, but I do have powers." she pleaded.

Xander nodded. Chloe's talent in precognition gave her the tool she needed to learn lightsaber combat. Rona showed no signs of that. "We have to talk to Luke about that, but why not create your own order? All great traditions have to start somewhere," he said, smirking. "This way you Guardians could be helping the Jedi, like the Watchers helped the Slayer." He picked one of the boxes open. "This is a book about the Antarian Rangers, normal humans that stood side by side with the Jedi for hundreds of years. It might give you some ideas."

Chloe nodded as she picked up the book.

Xander waited as she exited the room. "We found real training lightsabers. Unless you or Lowbacka have a protest, I'm going to start teaching the two of them lightsaber combat. I'm sure Chloe can learn it, although Rona would take more time and Amanda as well." She was super strong and fast, and had the paranormal talent of a brick wall.

Jaina shrugged. Lowbacka nodded his agreement.

Xander smiled, they would start the training with sensitivity as they journeyed through the deep core.

*

Two weeks later outside the Deep Core

It had been an illuminating journey for them. The Remnant had not been that evil to begin with, even if they still considered Luke to be evil and hated him and Leia. They were not truly of the darkside anymore. Lowbacka had to agree that it could be possible to form an alliance with them, but only if the Imperial Knights helped to make it solid.

They landed at the meeting point at Ruusan and the Valley of the Jedi.

It was Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors, followed by Amanda who met them at the landing platform. Xander and Jaina hugged their master. It seemed that the old fighter was just as happy to see them. Amanda talked vividly to the other girls about her training.

As they walked to see Luke, Xander and Jaina kept close to Kyle. "Why here?" Xander asked.

Kyle shrugged. "It's a good way out of the way from everything and I took Amanda into the Force nexus."

Xander was a little startled by that. "What happened?" he asked.

Kyle shrugged. "Her ability to sense the Force seems to have improved somewhat. She is still unable to use it for external manipulation." He frowned. "And what she can do or not seem to be limited. It's like she's hardwired to do only a small, but impressive number of skills, some better than others. If you like, go there and take Chloe and Rona into the nexus and see what happens." He shrugged and then looked at them. "Luke has been calling the Jedi in for a meeting. All of the Masters are going to give a vote about where the Jedi are going in the future." He looked at them. "There is a schism among the Jedi. Some want to recreate the Republic and others want the Jedi to keep out of politics."

Jaina nodded. "Where is the vote going?" she asked.

Kyle sighed. "So far most of them are following Luke, but the question is: Who will be the Heir of the Republic?"  
He sighed again. "That will be a different meeting." He looked at them. "Following your idea with Worf Trading, we have sent ships inside the Deep Core to see what the Imps are doing. It looks like they have potential." He frowned, remembering that Xander had hinted about something like that before.

*

Later

Jaina was away petting her X-Wing. Finally, they were re-united. Xander was meditating. The future was moving fast in front of his eyes, potential alternate paths, too much to grasp. The time of choice was coming closer and closer. The Champion was not Luke. He could see that it would in the end hang on the shoulders of Corran Horn or Kyle Katarn to make the right choice. To convince the other Jedi masters in a battle of words. On their vote the future would hang in between the difference of a millennium of strife and war or only a decade or less, before peace and stability would return inside a new baby Republic that would slowly start to grow. "I wonder if I should tell them or not," he said, describing the situation for his friend R3. He did not know if it was the conviction of Corran that would lead to destruction or if it was Kyle's iron hard belief that would doom them to a millennium of war.

The droid considered the situation before shaking his body in a negative. Xander nodded. "I agree. Let them sort it out." He had no idea what the correct answer would be in any case, but he knew the two Jedi masters would face off in a combat of words. One idea would lead to a millennium of war and the other to eventual peace.

He shrugged. Even if things went wrong, the future was not set in stone. You could change it sometimes, with the greatest difficulties, yes, but it could be done. There was nothing he could do right now from what he understood. Now it was up to them.

*

The next day at lunch

Xander tried not to look too much at the two Force Masters. They had spent the morning inside the Force nexus, feeling a new level of clearness in the Force. Chloe and Rona also felt it, but not the same way.

Xander was convinced as he called them Force Guardians that the two of them would never be able to use the Force as he could, but they had ability and skills hardwired in their bodies. The Slayers' ability to dream of the future had become an ability of precognition in seeing the future. The Slayers' ability to sense demons had become an ability to sense Force users and evil Force users. They seemed to like lightsiders, like being around them and helping them. In theory, an evil Force Guardian could be attracted to darksiders.

The Slayers' heighten sense of vision and hearing had transformed into the ability to enhance their senses using the Force. It was all there in some way. The Force Guardians were stronger than the Jedi in some ways. In other ways, they were weaker.

The last thing he had discovered as the other Jedi masters arrived, was that the Jedi had discovered or been pulled towards other potentials. They had now gathered nineteen girls, all from Earth and all of them potential Force Guardians. They had even found a former Watcher. Robin Wood, whose own mother had been a Slayer.

Somehow Luke "the evil asshole" had forced him to arrange training and coordination for those girls. He had a long argument with Luke about that. In the end they had come to some agreements. How the situation should be handled. It had taken a long time to convince Luke about the Guardians. He was somehow convinced they were a darkside problem waiting to happen. Perhaps Master Skywalker had been too stressed lately, not being able to see the true nature of the girls.  
Xander was not stupid, he knew that here he was the expert, especially on how the Slayers had changed in this new universe, and now he would be a teacher. Entering the room in the old temple ruin they had taken as their base, he was surprised in seeing the whole pack of 22 former potential Slayers. (19+ Chloe, Rona and Amanda) The youngest was only 12 and the oldest 24. Robin Wood was there, but he had more or less demanded his presence.

What surprised him was that most of Slayer Squadron was also there, former members of Rogue and Wraith Squadrons that defected from the Republic, and that was not all. About twenty Jedi, from students to full Knights, were also there, sometimes sitting near a Force Guardian.

"Alright, this is more than I expected." he muttered to himself.

Right, how to start? He waved his hand, causing a nearby chair to fly to him. "Is there anybody here who needs to know my credentials?" He saw a handful of arms rising, mostly from the Force Guardians. "Alright, is there anybody here that does not know where these young talented girls come from? Raise your hands." He saw once again a small forest of hands.

Right, this was one tough audience. "Let's start from the beginning then," he said, putting his hand on a crystal.  
A huge picture was generated, of an artifact being used by a Hutt. "This was a transdimensional gate as old as time itself. A greedy Hutt used it to plunder our world Earth." He showed them pictures of the mighty Angel and Demon asking him a normal human to save Earth.

"Every time it was activated, Earth risked destruction. It is now destroyed. I made sure of that." He looked around. "If you would have liked to return home, forget it. Earth surviving is more important. We will survive and make our home here."  
There was silence. The mighty images he projected could have been imagined, but they all felt the illusions were memories, his memories.

Xander sighed. "That was where the Slayers came from, now my credentials," he said as a picture of him, fighting side by side with Buffy, Kendra and even Angel against vampires filled the air. He showed how he and Angel had fought side by side to save a drowning Buffy.

"I have know Slayers. I have been fighting side by side with them since I was fifteen. The only guy in here that knows more is Robin Wood. Stand up Robin and come forth." he said.

Robin swallowed and walked up to Xander. "I'm going to hurt you for this," he whispered.

Xander just shrugged. "The last credentials I have are Chloe, Rona and Amanda. Do come forth."  
The three girls walked forward, waving their hands.

Xander nodded. "Right, that's that. I've been using the Force, trying to learn as much as I can about how they work. I know this. I might be wrong about it, but it's not likely. The power of the Force in this reality has changed the potential Slayers. You are no longer potentials or Slayers. You are Guardians of the Force."

He looked around. "All of you girls have been pulled together with a Jedi by the Force. How do you feel about the Jedi you have met? How do you feel about darksiders?"

He studied them. "Let me try to explain your own feelings. You feel protective towards the Jedi and lightsiders. Like the Force user is a light that you wanted to guard, protect and help. Around darksiders you feel disgusted, even angered by their foul nature. If any one of you feels that I am wrong, do protest." One girl looked angry. "You speak like we have no choice," she said.

Xander shrugged. "You do have a choice. All you feel is a need to protect. The lightside could just as well be our own family against criminals. It does not need to be a Jedi." The girl huffed and sat down.

Others looked fascinated or intrigued.

Xander nodded. "And that's why I call you girls Force Guardians. I suspect that Guardians that turned to evil would be attracted to darksiders."

He looked around. "Any questions?"

One of the pilots raised his hand. "What abilities do the Force Guardians have?" he asked.

Xander smiled. "Amanda. Could you lift the chair and me without dropping me, please?" Amanda nodded as she lifted the chair up in one hand.

Xander grinned as he stood up on the chair. "Each of the Guardians has improved strength, speed and flexibility when compared to normal humans. You can put me down now, carefully, and thanks for the lift."

He looked at the crowd. "But they also have an internal use of the Force. Some precognition skills…" he said, throwing a stone against Chloe who dodged. "And an ability to heal wounds faster. They also learn physical skills faster than normal humans."

He walked over to the three girls. "Each of the Guardians has different strengths, but what one Guardian can do, other Guardians can learn how to do." He gave Amanda's shoulder a one hand hug.

"Amanda over here is, I believe, around 6 times faster and stronger then a normal girl her size. During training, she and the other Guardians have proven that they can double their normal physical ability. Amanda's power when she does that is incredible. Her special ability is strength and she even heals faster, but her ability in precognition is weak."

He walked over to Chloe. "Chloe on the other hand seems to have only double the normal strength of a girl her size, but her ability in precognition is far greater and she even can learn to use a lightsaber, equal to that of a Jedi. But the rest? Her physical strength and flexibility is low for a Guardian."

Some Jedi looked upset that he had taught a non-Jedi the use of lightsabers.

"Listen, I'm a Knight and I had the support of Jedi Knights Lowbacka and Jaina Organa Solo in making that decision." He saw Jacen and Tenel-Ka wave their hands. "And I also had the support of Jedi Knights Jacen Organa Solo and Tenel-Ka of the Hapes Consortium." That ended the protest.

Xander continued. "But as I said, Chloe's level of precognition is not the norm. It's her talent." He walked over to Rona. "Rona has four times the strength a normal girl her size should have. Her special skills seemed to be in learning. Show her a move, be it martial arts or dancing, and she masters it instantly. In other areas she seems to be average for a Guardian. Another discovery is that the stronger or better trained a Guardian becomes, the stronger her resistance against mind control becomes."

Xander turned towards the room. "Now give the girls applause, as they sit down. The idea of forcing the training on any of you girls feels wrong, so we won't, but we can offer the training and when it's finished, we can offer you a position to help and be helped side by side with us Jedi Knights." He looked around. "I talked with Luke which is possibly why there are so many people in here who are male. The position as a Guardian of the Force is something you have to be born to do, but the position as a Force Ranger is something anybody can do and that is where you normals come in. The Jedi and the Guardians need normal beings, pilots, guards and Force rangers, who are willing to help support both Jedi and Guardians as equals."

Seeing some unsure looks he said. "Han Solo, not Force sensitive. Lando Calrissian, not Force sensitive. Being Force sensitive sometimes blinds us and most of us sacrificed too much time learning only Jedi skills at the expense of other learning. So Luke with the others has decided to recreate the Antarian Rangers, a Jedi support group, and for now we call them Force Rangers. Any one of you, who wants to be part of this, please think about it and then come to me," he said, cursing Luke. "But for now, most of what I'm going to do is start showing the Force Guardians how to learn their powers. As there are so many of you, you will also have the help of my lovely wife, Jaina, as well as my friends Lowbacka, Chloe, Rona and Amanda." He looked at Robin. "You will come with me. I think I have a bit of work for you," he said, smiling. He would let Robin listen in on his journals about training the girls. They were recorded in 3D by R3.

**32. 8-2**

Note: Our thanks again for Inachis, you are just awesome.

8-2

A Week later in the evening

He was brilliant. "Robin Wood, you are a genius." Xander said and not for the first time either. The former Watcher had soon catalogued every bit of important information and with the help of the droids, created a simple, but brilliant training manual. With ideas taken from Robin's own experiences as a Watcher, it was absolutely perfect.

By copying it and giving one copy to Luke, while the rest would be spread out among the different Jedi Knights who had found and saved the Force Guardians, Xander could trick the others into doing his work for him.

Talking with the volunteers willing to become Force Rangers, he soon recruited competent personal, former officers, to arrange things. After all, it was supposed to be a Jedi support organization, not an organization ruled by the Jedi, and they needed somebody in charge who knew what they were doing. The Antarian Rangers manual literally made most of the work.  
If the Force Guardians would be included into the Jedi order or the Rangers would be a different question. They belonged in both camps. Luke made the solution simple, as the other Jedi Masters questioned the girls' place. They would be considered equal to a Jedi Knight, but would serve with the Rangers. In the future, an older Guardian would also serve as a Master Guardian on the Jedi council. It would help keep them connected to the Guardians.

Xander's organization was approved by Luke. The foresight to let people who knew what they were doing help them was also a trait of a true Jedi.

Xander nodded. "It was a test, right?" he asked Luke.

The older man nodded, indeed it was. "Yes. Yes it was. You have barely begun your journey as a Jedi, but you are a Knight already. Your knowledge in the Force is greater than mine was at your age."

He looked at Xander. "You have much to learn, much strength to gain and experience to find, but because of the Force Guardians, we, the Jedi Masters, had a talk about you. Thanks to your experience and not just with the Guardians, we have voted to accept you as a Jedi Master."

Xander gasped in amazement. "What? I. I. I can't be that. I'm too young, too inexperienced and…"

Luke nodded. "That you are, but you also have inside information about the Force Guardians that none of us has. They trust you more than any other Jedi and the Guardians need a voice that can speak in their interest among the Jedi masters." He smiled. "I believe, if it comes to choosing between those girls and us Jedi, you would choose to protect them."  
Xander was silent; he always protected his girls. "But my skills and powers, I…"

Luke shrugged. "They are growing faster than those of any other young Jedi Knight. Your lessons with the dead are a source of experience and knowledge that is incredible. Tell me, do they still visit you during dreams and meditation and do you meditate every day?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "I do, one or two hours a day, sometimes only for fifteen minutes and yes they visit me in my dreams. Anakin said it's my disgust of the Darkside and dedication to the Light that is shielding me from the Darkside spirits."  
Luke nodded. "The rank of Jedi Master is traditionally the second highest rank a Jedi can achieve, the highest being Grand Master or as a member of the Council. Right now we do not have a true permanent Jedi Council, but we are creating a new Jedi Council. Don't worry, we are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. I'm sure we are smart enough to make completely new ones." Luke said with a smile before he continued.

"The requirement for being a Master is an exceptional devotion and skill in the Force. Before the Clone Wars, one of the tests of a Jedi Master was training another Jedi. In your case, the training of two Force Guardians fulfills that requirement quite well." He looked at Xander. "Most became Jedi Masters at the same time their first Padawans became Jedi Knights," he explained. "The second test was to understand complex situations and problems and finding a solution to them. Something you have done many times and by co-creating Worf Trading, you gave us a good source of information. Among other things, our argument or discussion about the Guardian situation solved many problems. I was more difficult during it then I normally would be on purpose. Just to test you, I acted as if I was worried that the girls would be drawn to the Darkside of the Force and your counter arguments were good, especially the one that an evil minded Guardian WOULD be drawn to Darksiders. You also gave me some important ideas to think about," Luke Skywalker said.

R2 had recorded the whole argument and the other Masters had watched it and had been impressed. They had also monitored his lessons and the way he taught.

Xander pouted. "You tricked me. I was beginning to believe your wife kissed you too deeply and sucked you brains out," he said.

Luke smiled a bit. "I hope Jade didn't hear that or she might try. On the other hand, I do hope she heard it and is willing to try," he said, making Xander laugh.

The two married man walked side by side.

Luke continued. "So, do you accept the title of a Jedi Master?" he asked.

Xander frowned. "Conditionally. Firstly I feel that I am too young. I need more experience before I can truly call myself a Master. Therefore I should limit myself to the areas of my expertise until I reach a greater understanding of myself and the Force and feel I am able to fully be a Jedi Master. That's the first condition, is that acceptable?"

Luke nodded. "You are going to make some of the other Masters extremely happy. They wanted that condition to be forced upon you," he said smiling. "We accept. What is the second one?" he asked.

Xander grinned. "This one is a doozy. The Jedi Order has faced destruction many times, most of the times because the Order has been too centralized. First on Ossus and then on Coruscant, I know that you are planning to recreate the Jedi Order and the Jedi Council. What I wish is that you and the other Master's consider a proposal of mine. I have meditated over it very carefully and I want you to think about it, to see if it would work or not. That's all."

Luke frowned. "You're not going to ask us to accept it, just to meditate over it?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "Yes. The idea is this: two separate main temples on different planets, both under the same command of a single Council. At last, the establishment of a hidden Jedi library where copies of every scroll or computer file is stored."  
Xander said: "This is a work that would take generations. But what do you think of my idea?"

Luke nodded. "We are going to have to meditate over this. It's different, but useful." He slowly walked away and then turned around. "Expect us to summon you early tomorrow, we have a lot to talk about," he said before he vanished.  
Xander's idea could work. They had planned to return to older arcane methods with Jedi Masters creating their own Jedi Academy for Force sensitives seeking education, with one main temple where strangers could come from far away to seek training. That way, the number of Jedi would grow faster and the order would become stronger, but two main temples would work even better, especially if you combined that with a Jedi Academy controlled by a Master trusted by the Council and placed on different planets.

Xander pondered to himself: "Wonder what Jaina is going to say?"

*

A Short moment later

"YOU ARE WHAT?" screamed Jaina in shock. Xander smiled; he had suspected she would say that.

*

The next day

The meeting was long and boring, but they got lot of things done. From the more boring things like Jedi appearance, how a proper Jedi should dress during formal meetings or diplomatic functions (Xander could see the use of that) to a talk about Jedi armor and the re-creation and spreading of the knowledge the Jensaarai had, and then a vote which would earn a place for the Jensaarai on the future Jedi Council. That had been Xander's idea, which he had suggested to them as they were talking about armor. Surprisingly, most were intrigued and approved. That way the Jensaarai would be closer allied if they accepted.

Xander was about to scream in irritation, but with that done they moved onto more important areas of discussion. Six hours later, the new Jedi Order was created, lead by the Council of Jedi Masters.

For most of those details Xander was silent, only explaining himself and his ideas as the talk came to them, telling the Masters why he felt it would be in the Orders best interest to spread out instead of putting all their eggs in one basket. The Jedi Masters nodded as they meditated on the question. Most were for the idea, as it would help teach more Jedi.

Half of the new Council would consist of Masters from both temples. The library idea was splendid, but not practical in theory. The pure size of the information the Jedi had collected would fill a planet. Even now, rebuilding with a generation of information stolen or destroyed, they had so much it would take a life time to read it all, but they did agree that smaller Jedi knowledge outpost could be combined with Jedi Academies. That way trusted Jedi Masters could keep important knowledge safe.

It was time to take up some information that was his specialty.

"I have some information and a suggested solution I need to talk about. The Force Guardians are not Jedi that much is clear, but they can learn a limited number of Force skills, among which is lightsaber combat. Not to the level of skill a Jedi is capable of, but good enough that they can parry blaster bolts." He could see the other Masters listening.

Xander continued. "I was given permission to teach and give some of my students' lightsabers, but even I feel that it's not the correct tool for them. In the Fortress of Vjun I was guided to a treasure trove of old lightside tools and knowledge. Some came from a now extinct lightside Force user."

He lifted a gauntlet from his back pack. "This is a Killian Ranger Shield gauntlet. It uses a powerful generator that creates a shield that's around a 30 cm in radius." He put the gauntlet on his hand, activated it and a round transparent shield was formed.

"This shield is able to parry, not reflect, blaster bolts. It even works against lightsabers. The technology is similar to a lightsaber, but not as focused or strong." He deactivated the shield. "Why don't you all check it out?" he said, handing it over to the closes Jedi.

"The Force Guardian's precognitive ability is not as effective as a Jedi's. Their ability to parry with a lightsaber is also not as good."

Tionne frowned as she tested the gauntlet. "I am sorry, but is it just me or does it not have the same deep feeling in the Force that a lightsaber has?"

Xander nodded. "It's not just you. The Shield Gauntlets are more difficult to imbue with the Force than a lightsaber is, but a Force Guardian is unable to imbued objects with the Force in the first place. So the gauntlets are a perfect tool for them."  
He could see the Jedi nodding around the table.

Xander nodded. "I'm already having Wood and the others help the Guardians learn about the Shields. As Luke said, it was my duty to train and help them. But I feel it would be better if I received your blessing in letting gifted Guardians also use a lightsaber without protests coming from Jedi that feel it's a Jedi only tool."

A short vote and the proposal was accepted, as most believed the Guardians would fancy the Shield above the tricky and difficult to master lightsaber in any case. Obviously they did not know the love of shiny cutting objects Slayers or Guardians had build into them.

Xander was bored again. If this was what Jedi Masters did, he'd rather be a student again.  
"It seems like our young Master is falling asleep." Dorsk 82 said from the other side. He was himself one of the younger beings in this council and was highly amused.

Xander sighed. "Na not asleep, I'm listening, but honestly I feel like I have little or no real input to give in this." He shrugged. "The only thing I feel should be covered is where are those incredible temples and the majestic academies going to be? The Jedi Order needs a sponsor to have a real Jedi Temple and once we have that, we have tied our future together with them."

He looked at the other Jedi. "That's something you guys have to talk about, from what I sense that has already happened. Am I right?" he asked.

Luke nodded. "You are indeed right. We have talked about opening discussion with the Hapes, the Mon Calamari and the Corelians. So far the Hapes and the Mon Calamari are willing to welcome us. The Corelians are voting about it now, but we expect them to welcome us as well." He looked at Corran Horn.

Corran Horn nodded. "The Jedi are rather popular on Correlia. It's more a formality than anything else."  
Kyle frowned. "You forgot something," he said. "We were arguing about opening discussion about an alliance with the Empire Remnant. What is your opinion on that?"

Xander swallowed. "O. I think it's a good idea. Right now they are weary of the darkside and stand on the balance between the light and the dark. If we're careful, we can turn them to our side and gain a powerful ally at the same time. Short explanation, I'm for it," he said.

They nodded.

Luke continued. "That was what our Order agreed on also. We are opening discussion with them as of now, but we are going to keep an eye out in case something happens." The arguments between Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn about that would be legendary. They all felt the decision to open a dialogue with the Remnant was momentous.

Xander nodded. "Before I once again fall victim to sleep, I would like to take up one more thing with the Council."

They all nodded and told him to speak up.

Xander nodded. "A new concept: The Jedi Word of Honor."

He could see confusion on the faces around him.

Xander explained. "There are two types of beings you should never trust. Liars and those that every one claims speak only the truth." Some of the Jedi Masters blinked in confusion. Others smiled, nodding their head.

Luke's smile warmed the room. "Because a person that never lies, will always be believed even when he does tell a lie."  
Luke had noticed that most of the more advanced Jedi often tried not to lie. As their own skill in sensing and detecting lies became more advanced, they themselves often stopped lying altogether. Knowing how easy it was to detect a lie, they prefer to twist the truth to their purpose instead.

Xander snapped his fingers. "Exactly, I would like this information or training be given to all Jedi Masters to begin with, then slowly help the younger members to understand that truth is a shield and a weapon, if used in the right way at the right time. Jedi Masters like you guys should be able to use the truth to mislead if need be and to avoid answering a question if no suitable half truth exists, thereby nursing the feeling of trust between civilians and the Jedi Order." He frowned; there was one more thing.

"Unless anybody has suggested this, one of the Jedi temples should be near the Core worlds and the other further away, perhaps in the Outer Rim. I suggest we ask the Hapes if we could put a Jedi temple there. The second temple I believe should be further away from the Core worlds. Perhaps the Minos cluster, they have some worlds I have seen that are empty and ready to move in. Alternatively Tatooine, but that would put us in trouble with the Hutt nations."

Luke nodded. "Motion is heard, one temple near the Core worlds and the other in the Outer Rim. Against and for?" The Jedi Masters seemed to sink in meditation before one by one they voted, some against, others for the idea.

His suggestion was passed. It was logical after all. Even if no temple would be built on Minos, he would build an academy there himself.

Another Jedi suggested they would look around in the three main groups they had allied themselves with, Mon-calamari, Hapes and Corellia (pending on the vote), in all those areas of space Jedi were now recognized as protectors and guardians of peace and order.

Now they just have to make the three groups join together in an alliance. How they would create a Republic from that was the question.

"Federation," Xander said suddenly. They looked at him. "The Republic took 25 000 years to create. Stop thinking you can re-create it over night. Start with trying to create a federation of independent star nations which joins together for joint protection and alliance."

Kyle grinned. The kid was smart. "The Federation would essentially leave room to become a New Republic in time. Correct?" he asked.

Xander nodded, thank you Star Trek. "Exactly, and it's easier to lure them into a Federation of independent star-nations. They trick the rulers into giving up their own laws and right of self rule."

They started to argue about the idea, but once again he had said the right thing. It was a new and fresh idea that could bring stability to the galaxy. As they started to talk about how to make that happen, Xander relaxed and let the other guys talk. He picked up his data-pad and spend some time drawing a funny comic where all the Jedi Masters were in a cantina trying to get a malfunctioning bartender droid to serve them the correct drink.

He grinned, that was funny.

Sitting in the opposite corner, Jedi Master K'Kruhk, an old huge whippid Jedi that survived Vader's Jedi purge mostly because he was left for dead twice, saw that the young Master was writing something on his data-pad, and seeing that it was connected to the room's computer, he quickly entered his own and tried to connect it to Xander's.

Laughter started to spread as Master K'Kruhk's attempt was more successful then he planned. In gigantic 3D holo Image the cartoon was suddenly projected in the room. With a tiny text image send by K'kruhk.

Xander was trying to crawl down a non existing hole in the floor, his face blazing red in embarrassment.

Kam Solust smiled at the young man once he finished laughing. "Well, if you'd like to go and have a drink, just say so." he said, still giggling at the cartoon image of a drunken Corran Horn trying to fly a music machine like it was a X-wing.

K'Kruhk laughed silently. "I am sorry, fellow Masters. My only mistake was to sneak a peak of young Master Xander's work of art, but I do hope he will give us more words of wisdom as well as cartoons." His smile was large enough to hide a four year old inside.

Xander blushed. "Sorry." he said in tiny voice.

Kyle raised his head, he had been laughing so hard. "Just so you know. Not even drunk would I mistake a bottle of whiskey for my gun."

Eelysa, one of the female Jedi Masters who often argued against Luke Skywalker, had become a close friend with Mara Jade Skywalker and also one that Luke himself often asked for advice, even if he did not always agree or act on that advice. She had originally been against a young man like Xander being included among the Masters, but now… They could use some more life in the Council. She frowned to herself. Perhaps in the future younger Jedi would have to serve time among the Masters to function as a fountain of new ideas and inspirations.

She looked at the other Masters and spoke in a clear voice. "With age comes experience and wisdom, but youth has creativity and endless energy to test new ideas." They all blinked.

"I suggest that in the future at least one young Jedi Knight is made an Honorary Master in the Council, to serve as a link between the younger members of our Order and the ruling Council. He or she would not be a permanent or a voting member, but the other members are supposed to listen to any idea he or she might bring forth. Wisdom comes with age and experience, but also the danger of becoming trapped by tradition. It would also serve as a reward and help teach the younger talented Jedi how the Order works."

There was silence as they voted. Her idea was strange, but even Luke agreed. Something must be wrong with her idea. She frowned. No, it was perfect.

Perhaps even Luke –I'm blind- Skywalker could see that. She looked at the caricature of herself dancing on a table, swinging her lightsaber around, declaring herself to be the dancing queen.

Eelysa nodded. "Indeed you are right. I was the Dance Queen twice as a teen, Xander," she said, grinning. She was not that much older than Xander himself. Not that he knew about that. She had started to learn at the age of 12 and managed to learn everything Luke and Mara could teach her. By the age of 14, she was declared Jedi Knight against Luke's opposition and now at 21 she was an experienced Jedi Master.

*

**33. 8-3**

Note: Inachis I did it again and caught up to you. Shame on me :) But tx anyway.

8-3

Later, much later

A tired Xander walked out and was almost rundown by a walking mountain.

In his path stood a huge lizard Barabell, a female Barabell, her black armored body glittered under the Jedi robes as she looked down on the human who had almost collided with her. A surprisingly female voice came from the mountain of armor.  
"I'm sorry. Are you a Jedi Knight? I'm Saba Sebatyne." she said, her voice sounding like it would better suit a tiny human, not this huge mountain of flesh.

Xander blinked, "Um. I'm Jedi Knight Xander Harris Solo, Miss Saba Sebatyne. I was just surprised and did not expect to see anybody here," he said, trying to remember what he heard about Barabells. Right, don't shoot a Barabell, they only got angry.

They combined great strength and the ability to take significant damage without dying with a natural armor that made most missile weapons useless, even energy weapons had difficulties in penetrating it. The natural bony armor had weak points, but not many.

She giggled. Again Xander wondered were that voice came from. It was just wrong for such a big creature.

"I see you have met my apprentice." Eelysa said from behind Xander.

Xander nodded. "She is your student?"

Eelysa nodded as she petted Saba on the back. The Barabell was almost twice her size. "Yes, a bit young, but she is a smart girl."

"Master, you are flattening me." Saba said.

Xander was struck rather speechless. "Um."

Eelysa grinned. "So, Saba how long have you known Jedi Master Alexander Harris Solo, also known as Xander?"  
Saba twisted around and looked at him with stars in her eyes. "You are a Master? That is so hard."  
Xander blinked. It was? What was hard? O right, it was like saying cool or hyper. He hoped. "Um thanks. Ladies, I have a wife who asked me to return home, so I have to go now."

Eelysa grinned as he vanished. "Keep an eye out after that young man, Saba. He brings change where ever he goes and he is one of the fastest improving Jedi we know about. He has a special gift, which let's ghosts of dead Jedi talk to him and whisper their secret knowledge to him."

Saba looked at Eelysa with awe. "Is that true?" she said. Seeing her master nodding, she could only say one thing. "Rock hard." That said it all.

Xander was moving as fast as possible. With luck he would be free. Free to go home to Jaina. No, the evil overlord blocked his way.

"Hi Master Luke, could we talk and walk? I'm in a hurry." Xander said, trying not to draw his lightsaber and attack.  
Luke nodded. "Of course, I sense you are upset over something?" he asked.

Xander shook his head. "Naa. Me upset, just because the world seems to be conspiring to keep me away from Jaina? Perhaps I should fight the evil that's blocking my path." he said, glaring at Luke.

Luke actually smiled at that. "Well, murdering her favorite Uncle could create difficulties in your marriage," he defended himself.

Xander snorted. "They would never find your body." he said.

Luke smiled. "Now that's the attitude. By the way, do you really feel that Rona is getting the best training from you or perhaps it would be wise to show her an alternate path she could use to improve her skills?"

Xander stopped walking. "Why?"

Luke shrugged. "It's just that she seems to know her own limits and how to overcome any problems she has. I feel that perhaps another Guardian posted on your ship would be more effective. Alternatively I have a Jedi in need of a Master. She would do well under your teaching. If not, that poor Jedi student is without guidance."

Xander punched his head in the wall. "You are evil. Evil, I say." He smashed his head again. No, that didn't work, Luke was still there. "Evil," he sighed. "I'll talk to Jaina and Rona later. What else?"

Luke smirked. "O nothing. Feet week is coming up. Family dinner and that sort of things, it's also Life Day, so Han and Chewbacca would like you, Lowbacka and especially Jaina there."

Xander frowned. Luke used the galactic week standard, which was 5 days. Practical called Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5. Feet week was next week. This was day 2. So 7 days. No problem, then Feet week, which was the first five days of the New Year, a festival week. Most of the civilized galaxy celebrated Feet week and most work places worked only half days during it. During the three festival days, most places are closed. No wonder Jaina had been stockpiling food. Everything good would be gone from the store. The three festival days were at the end of Feet week. Remembrance Day was day 3. People's Day was day 4. Labor Day was day 5. Xander frowned. "Life Day comes after People's Day, right?" he asked.

Luke nodded, right. People's Day was equal to a huge happy birthday to us. Life Day was a Wookiee holiday that had somehow infected huge areas of the galaxy. It was celebrated once every 3 years and it was a celebration of life, friends and those that have died. What more did he need to remember? "I feel like there is something more I should know." he said.

Luke nodded again. "Wookiee's from the whole galaxy are coming home to celebrate Life Day. If you want to be there, be there in time. Move fast." he explained. Life Day and the Peoples Day are at the same time for the first time in over 400 years. It would be big.

Xander nodded. "Right, what about the Jedi runt?"

Luke handed him a memory stick. "Find one in here." he said before leaving with a smile.

Reading the information on his trusty data-pad/lightdagger hide out, Xander had only one thing he wanted to say. There was only one name and a long explanation why. "I'm too young for this shit." he said as he walked back to their quarters.  
It was quite a crowd that waited for him.

Jaina, Jacen, Anakin, Lowbacka, Rona, Chloe, Amanda, Riley, Graham, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, Chewbacca, Mara Jade Skywalker and Luke –i am evil- Skywalker.

Xander frowned. "How did you come here before me?" he said in a suspicious voice to Luke.

Luke just looked at him and said with a sage like voice. "A Jedi Master never tells. Learn well young Master."

Xander looked at Jaina and begged. "Honey, can I kill your uncle? Please?"

She hesitated for a moment. "NO, absolutely not, what are we to do with his body?" she said, trying not to laugh.

Han grinned. "Don't worry, they'd never find his body." he said, earning a smack form his wife.

End of Chapter 8

**34. 9-0**

Note: Ok Inachis this time I didn't caught up with you because this are only the parts 9-0 and 9-1 merged together so you still have some headway *g*

9-0

The greater the speed you wish to gain in hyperspace, the more difficult it gets. The ship's hyperdrive must be fine tuned to create a streamlined field around the ship which pushes through time and space without tearing the ship apart into tiny bits. Partly the hyperdrive can do that, but the nav-computer has to help as well. The further down you get from an x2, the more difficult it is, the challenge doubling and quadrupling for each step you take.

An X0.5, like the Falcon, combines a fine tuned hyperdrive linked with the ship's shape and form by an expert to create a strong hyper-shield around it with just the right profile, with an exceptional nav-computer. A part of the work is done by the nav-computer, adapting the hyper-shield to the currents in hyperspace. The Falcon's nav-computer must have been built and programmed by a genius. The hyperdrive alone would never be able to make the Falcon survive an x0.5 speed without the constant input and help from the Nav-computer.

Xander had realized that. He had a 0.75 hyperdrive and he needed a new nav-computer. The problem was that he already had the best he could find, thanks to Lando. More advanced versions existed, sure, but none so advanced they could make a ship survive x0.5 speed.

"Where the hell did he get that nav-computer? Or the program inside it that lets him flew his ship that fast?" Xander asked.  
Lowbacka growled angrily beside them.

Jaina looked down from the tech analysis. "I believe an old outlaw tech built it for him. He was a genius in hyper space theory."

Xander sighed. A genius, well, we have a cloak Han does not have. Take that, you old smuggler.

The Enterprise was stock full as usual. Jaina, Lowbacka and Anakin were his normal crew, although he had a feeling that Leia and Han wanted their youngest child back home again. Jacen and Samy had joined them for the short journey. Chloe was there and Rona had accepted training as a Ranger. She wanted to be a real Force Guardian and eventually work side by side with a Jedi. At least she would have Amanda nearby. Xander had built her a lightsaber that had a synth crystal with a blue blade. Rona had finally started to be able to parry, using only her precognition instincts. She had taken to the use of the Shield Gauntlet with much more speed and ease then the lightsaber. Chloe was much faster in learning how to use the paranormal parts of lightsaber combat.

Amanda was just beginning to sense attacks in advance. The ESP was just not her thing, but she did get some training in Wookiee style combat. To her, the Shield Gauntlet was just what the doctor ordered. With it and a bit of luck, she could even parry blaster bolts. She was perhaps the only human strong enough to actually use it that way. Seeing Amanda throwing a Wookiee around the training room was a sight to behold.

The way the Guardians could double their strength was similar to a Jedi using Force to enhance an attribute, but the Guardians did it automatically, while for a Jedi it was a difficult skill to learn and they always risked hurting their own body if they made a mistake. Seeing and helping the other Force Guardians train was a revelation for many.

Rona strength of 4 times the normal did seem to be the standard strength. There had had been a girl whose talent was at long distant weapons. With any form of throwing weapon, missile weapon or even a blaster, she was deadly. She never missed unless somebody parried.

Another girl had really spooked Xander, as she was able to channel the ghost of a Jedi Knight, and for a short moment use any skill, even skills using Force power, the ghost knew when it was alive, as if it was her own skill. Of course with her own strength in the Force not the ghost's strength. Anakin Skywalker and the other dead Jedi ghosts had said that from what they saw, the girl was difficult to control or take over for a spirit, but not impossible. He advised her to form a co-operation with a Force ghost and work with that ghost only. That way she would have a second shield against evil ghosts. Xander hoped that she would listen to the advice and then he had a Padawan or a Jedi learner. Luke must have a sense of humor, an evil sense of humor.

With her role as an ambassador and diplomat at the Republic over and done with, Princess Leia Organa Solo, also known as mother-in-law, planned to focus more on her career as a Jedi Knight, but she refused to let her name carry her reputation or her career as a Jedi Knight. She wanted to learn as every Jedi did, from a Master.

They were rather short on Jedi Masters.

Luke said that Leia had some advanced skills in battle meditation, but her other Jedi skills were below standard. So all he had to do was bring her up to speed to where she should be or as close as he cold.

Joy.

Leia listened and was silent before agreeing. She would spend more time with her daughter and son, which always was a good thing, besides getting the training she needed, but with Leia came her body guards. Guards that Leia had tried and tried again to get rid of, but the Noghri weren't hearing a word of it. Small and grey skinned, they moved so silent they made cats sounds as if they had drums tied to their feet. Cakhmaim and Meewalh looked at Xander like they were judging him. So far, they were not sure they liked what they saw.

*

Later

The Enterprise had landed in a forest outside the city of Shesharile. Jaina followed Xander while the rest of the gang took time to shop for food. Feed week was coming and everyone was stockpiling food for parties. It was tradition after all. They were here for one thing and one thing only, to buy a Starslinger swoop.

*

Later again

Side by side, the two over powered swoops hang from the wall. Xander's was black and silver chrome, Jaina's had hers in black with gold chrome. Leather seats made out of real nerf skins; it was cheap, easy to get and made good leather. Actually, nerf leather looked better than the more expensive Rancor leather did. Like Xander, Jaina had a place to hang a rifle and put her lightsaber away in.

Leia did not say anything, but she did not look approving.

Xander smiled. "Is there anything wrong Leia?"

Leia smiled back. "I told you, call me mom. It's the swoops. They're extremely dangerous to drive."

Xander nodded. "I know they're dangerous to drive, but they're also effective and less sensitive to planetary disruption. They're also easy to carry in a small ship." He finished off. Then he frowned. "And I'll try to call you mom. But it's hard, so just work with me," he said. Once they lifted off, the lightsaber training of hell would begin.

Leia nodded. "That's true I recon. So when are we going to start real lightsaber training?" So far the Cadance, a strange destroy ball bearings exercise and an empty a bottle of air were the only training they had given her.

Xander smiled. "The Cadance is an advanced form of training in control of your lightsaber. I myself am on the second Cadance."

Jaina nodded. "Luke tried the Cadance after Kyle showed it to him. It took Uncle Luke a month before he was on the fourth and Luke is a Master."

*

Later

Leia did not really know what to say, the Enterprise was a unique ship with a special young man as its captain. Each of the kids, for that is what they were, was more skilled than most twice their age, and Xander was driving them forward. Egging them on, supporting them and inspiring them to improve. She too felt affected and she too would improve. Her husband asked her to spy on whatever modifications Xander had made to the ship. Han was helping and competing with Xander at the same time. The Falcon's incredible speed and ability to pretend to be another ship was one of its many talents. The Enterprise did the same with a different method. It used stealth and also faked identities, but it was much easier to detect the real identity of a ship that had been as obviously rebuilt to the degree the Enterprise was. Even when using a fake identity. The Falcon still looked like a real beat up old YT-1300 should, except for the 2 quad laser cannons, and most old YT-1300 had improved weapons. Quad-Laser cannons were a favorite among smugglers and traders, after all. Sure, not that many had HEAVY Quad laser cannons, but somehow Han made those cannons look like medium sized laser cannons from the outside.

The Enterprise looked like a warship and it behaved like one, the Falcon did not look like a warship, but it behaved like one in battle.

As she mused about the two ships, Xander entered the cargo hold. "Right, let's see your moves, mom" he said.

Leia nodded as she turned her lightsaber on. "Bring it on, boy," she said.

On the side her children were watching. It turned out humiliating. Luke said she was good, but Xander kicked her butt.

Jaina shook her head. "Mom, five years ago you were twice as good. What happened?"

Leia shook her head in chagrin. "I haven't used a lightsaber in four years. Not even for training. You know I've always put my work as a diplomat first. Even before my family sometimes. The Jedi things, that's was Luke's area. I just dabbled in it." She blushed, somewhat ashamed. Somehow the needs of the galaxy always came in the way of her family's needs.

Lowbacka roared out a protest. She was good, just not focused.

Xander nodded. "You are right Lowy. Leia, you aren't focused right and the style you use feels wrong for you. Luke is built bigger and stronger than you are and yet you use the same style of fighting as he does. I think we will go through the lightsaber combat styles with you and see if we can find one that fits." Kam Solust would be better at this than he was. He ended up abusing some of the styles, whenever he tried to use them.

Jacen nodded. "One with speed and grace, I think" he said.

Xander nodded. "Right, let's see how your Form 1 Shii-Cho is."

Leia blinked. Nobody really gave her the names of the forms which they had taught her.

Xander hanged his head. "Let me show you." he said as he began moving and talking. "Shii-Cho is slow and predictable, but it's an effective form against multiple opponents and a good form to fall back on, if your current style is not effective. Shii-Cho could save your neck." Leia's eye lighted up in recognizance. It was the basic stand, she knew them, but she never knew that much about the forms.

Xander changed from lightsaber to a lightfoil with a crocked hilt. "This is Form 2: Makashi, a form of fencing, stabbing and slashing more than cutting. Foot work is essential, you move in and out or away during your attack. Balance is what Makashi is based on, dodging more than parrying."

Leia looked at how he moved. It was elegant and yet she could see some hesitations now and then. Like he was pretending, not really doing the form, or like it was an unnatural way for him to fight.

Xander continued. "Makashi is an effective form and an elegant way of fighting. The user has to be precise, calm and confident, almost to the point of arrogance. A true master in Makashi always knows that he/she will be the winner. It does have a weakness, as it's difficult to block blaster fire with it and against multiple enemies using Lightsabers, it's less effective. It's also weak against powerful strong lightsaber wielding enemies. This form Leia, is one I believe could work for you. It might be a wee bit difficult for me to teach it to you though, as the style feels wrong for me." He even blushed.  
Leia smiled, he was a good boy. Her Son-in law was so cute, if he only had been her real son.

Xander shifted into a more pulled back form, feet in balance, knee slightly bent. "Right, Form 3 Soresu. Defense and control, it was created to fight blasters. It's good in any form of self defense, but it demands focus from the user. Its weakness is that it's created more to ensure that you survive a battle, not to make sure that you are the winner."  
Leia watched how he moved through the stands. Somehow, she had the image in her head that he was moving in a circle or standing inside a ring.

Xander spoke again. "The key is to focus your battle around a circle of defense, the Soresu shield." He finished.

Leia nodded. "How many forms are there?" She asked.

Xander paused in thought. "There are 6 accepted forms that I can show you and that a Jedi must learn the basics in. Then 11 accepted free forms."

Leia blinked. "Six forms?" she asked with incredibility in her tone.

Xander nodded. "They complement each other. Most of the forms improve your fighting ability in one area of combat, but sacrifice some of your strength in another area. Most Jedi learn the basics of them all and then find their favorite and keep improving on that. Most also learn some of the free forms. Don't worry, once you got the basic of them in you, we can try to see what you really like."

Leia nodded. "So what do you like?"

Jaina grinned. "Xander is special." She said.

Xander smiled. "Like my wife said, my first favorite is Jar'Kai, one of the free forms. It's a sub form of Niman where you use two lightblades one to support the other. It's extremely hard to master and most Jedi use only one blade. That's all they need, but if you do master Jar'Kai, you can have a strong offense at the same time as you have a strong defense. Then there's form 6: Niman. The Niman balances all elements of combat. It's a combination. However, it's a weak form. The other forms help boost the wielders ability in one area, while leaving him vulnerable in others. Niman is balanced in all situations. It has no special weakness and no special strengths. Form 5 is Shien Djem So. It's a form that takes advantage of strength and power. It is the opposite of the Makashi. It's good against weaker enemies, like one using Makashi, or against a group of enemies, but against one skilled enemy who knows the secret weaknesses of Shien Djem, he or she can easily take advantage of them. Luke is a master of Shien Djem So. Form 3, Soresu. I told you about that one. A double-bladed form and also one of the free forms, double-bladed forms favor strong and fast users. It demands lots of space for movement. If faced against a darksider using a double bladed lightsaber, move inside a corridor. Shien unorthodox, a free form related to Shien Djem So: In this you have to hold your blade in a reverse grip. Like a large dagger with the blade pointing backwards alongside your body. The strikes are long and sweeping. You sacrifice control for space. It's especially useful against enemies that do not have lightsabers. If Shien is used in combination with Jar'Kai by having a second blade in your free hand, it's a deadly combination. But difficult to use if you have allies in the area." He grinned. Against large numbers of enemies it was perfect and using his dagger in a reverse grip, he could use it near friends and allies as well.

Leia swallowed. "Right, Jaina what forms do you use?" she asked.

Jaina grinned. "Me? I like form 1: Shii-Cho, during training or to meditate. During combat, I start with Form 6 Niman. If I have to, I use Form 2: Makashi, it fits me. I'm fast, small and have a good balance and I also use Soresu Form 3 to protect myself against blaster attacks. Soresu is my favorite and I'm really good with it."

Leia nodded and turned to Jacen. "And you son?" she asked.

Jacen smiled. "Form 6. Niman until I understand my enemy, then Form 4. Ataru. It's an aggressive style that used Force assisted acrobatics. I also learn Soresu form 3. Sith spit, its good against blaster weapons. Xander may not admit it, but he borrowed some moves from Ataru."

Leia frowned at her son. "Watch your tone young man, so Niman and Ataru?" She turned to Lowbacka. The Wookiee held up his fingers as he growled out the answer. Form 3 and 4, with Form 6 which he was currently learning.

Xander spoke up again. "The best part of the six forms is that you can actually use them unarmed. You don't need a lightsaber unless blaster weapons are involved." He looked at Lowbacka. "Let's rumble." he said.

Lowbacka grinned as he roared out a Wookiee battle scream. Then he attacked Wookiee style. Xander stood ready in  
Soresu position. The two fought aggressively. Leia could see Xander switch to a new form and Jacen whispered to her: "Its Ataru. It's good in unarmed combat, then a switch to Niman."

At the end Xander was black and blue and Lowbacka looked like he had had fun, but Xander did keep up with the Wookiee in unarmed combat. Cakhmaim and Meewalh, the two Noghri bodyguards, watched with more and more approval.

Xander flexed his arms. "Right, Leia we are going to get you in battle shape and skills and then we are going to see that you get a real armor. Now there was something else… Right, the tiny grey guys." he said, turning to the two Noghri.  
"Hey, you two are elite bodyguards, right?" They blinked. "You believe it's your duty to help keep Leia and the house of Solo alive, right?"

They nodded. Xander smiled. "Perfect. I have training lightsabers. They are supposed to be impossible to kill somebody with. You two are going to protect Leia by helping her get better. All of us are, me especially, but you also will help all of us, including Leia, to improve our unarmed combat skills. In return, I'm going to teach you how to fight an enemy who is using a lightsaber against you."

Cakhmaim and Meewalh looked at each other and thought about the deal. Training to fight against a Jedi was a good idea, especially as the darkside existed. "It's a deal," one of them said.

Xander grinned. "Sweet, let's see what you can do. Just remember, this is just a test," he said, picking up a training blade and demonstrating it.

The Noghri felt the blade burn, but it did no real damage on the skin.

Xander turned to Leia. "Let's pretend that I'm Dark Lord Asshole and I'm attacking Leia," he said and jumped, the training blade aiming at Leia.

A blaster bolt hit Xander and he fell down, unconscious.

Cakhmaim put his blaster gun away. "What? I put it on stun only he will be fine. Beside Dark Lord Asshole was so focused on us attacking in close combat that he forgot about long range."

Jaina, seeing that Xander was fine, just sleeping with a bruised ego, could not help herself from giggling.  
Meewalh nodded. "Your husband is a good warrior, young daughter of Lady Vader. We would be happy to teach and learn from him."

By now Leia and the rest were laughing.

On the floor Xander started to twitch and return to consciousness. "What happened?" he asked.  
Meewalh explained: "Dark Lord Asshole was too focused on close combat. He had forgotten about blaster weapons. In a real combat, it would not be on stun." The Noghri was impressed, the young man was skilled and had the right instincts. He just needed to learn not to underestimate his enemies.

He would never call them tiny grey guys again.

Xander blinked. "Huu? Now I remember." He must have looked like a fool. Well, they would train more. It was still two days to Kashyyyk, home of the Wookiee.

*

Two days later

On Kashyyyk, the homeworld of the Wookiees, there is a saying that you never have seen a forest until you saw the forest of Kashyyyk. Xander had to agree on that. A second saying was that you never have seen a tree until you saw a Wrohyr tree. Xander had to really agree on that. The Wrohyr tree, with over 1000 different varieties, had adapted to live on the planet from pole to pole. The smaller Wrohyr trees reached a size of up to 300-400 meters, but in the temperate regions they reached sizes of 2000-4000 meters, trees 2-4 km tall.

Huge cities and spaceports were supported between the gigantic trees. A single branch would form a natural road you could drive trucks on, on several lanes going in different directions. Xander felt overwhelmed by the size and the pure strength of the forest. It was bubbling with life, pouring out and demanding strength from any one daring to walk below the highest branches.

Kashyyyk ecology was known as a layered deathtrap. Highest up were the smaller, less dangerous animals. The Wookiee said there were seven levels of environment with slightly different ecology. The higher up you went, the less dangerous it was. The Wookiee lived on the top. Xander had a hard time seeing a Wookiee as something tiny and defenseless, but Lowbacka confirmed it. Fourth level was the place the young Wookiee had to journey to prove their adulthood. It was extremely dangerous. Wild Katarns hunted the place. The ground level was known as the shadow lands or as a death trap and for some reason there was a gathering of fur-balls when they landed.

*

The family

Han Solo, who hugged his wife and started to talk to her.  
Luke and Mara with baby Ben who was in a flying baby chair beside them.  
Mahraccor, Lowbacka's father, a skilled worker at the computer factory, Kallabow, sister of Chewbacca, also a computer worker, and Sirrakuk, Lowbacka's younger sister.

The moment she saw Lowbacka, she attacked him with a bone crushing hug. She directly started to growl out questions about the Enterprise and its speed, its weapons and if she could fly it.

Xander heard and understood one word and that was it.

Chewbacca and his family were also there. The Falcon traveling directly gave it the chance to come first.  
Attichitcuk, Chewbacca's and Mahraccor's father, Chewie's wife Mallatobuck and Lumpawaroo, Chewbacca's son.  
Lowbacka growled out a question, wondering why the whole clan was there. He was a Jedi Knight and an adult. Surely he could have escorted them home and Mallatobuck and his mother Mahraccor could have waited at home and prepare a barbequed Trakkrrrn or a Wasaka-Berry pudding. They could eat it directly.

Aunt Mallatobuck smiled as she growled out that he was always thinking with his stomach. Mahraccor growled out that the reason all of them came was because he was a Jedi and it's both Life day and People's day. It was the first time in 400 years that they happened on the same day. Lowbacka blinked, he had forgotten about that. Feed week had not begun yet. It was still day 4 on the week before Feed week. Tomorrow would be the last day of the New Year. Then the weeklong celebration would start and day 4 of Feed week was Life day and People's day. Life day was celebrated once every three years. It was a big Wookiee celebration. Both People's day and Life day celebrate life and family and with Feed week, he had forgotten. He growled out a question. Mahraccor nodded as she petted her niece on the shoulder. Mahraccor hugged him.

It had happened, they knew, all of them knew now that he was a Jedi Knight. A Wookiee Jedi is rare, extremely rare. In over a millennium there had only be 4 Jedi Wookiee and he was one of them. In other words he was famous over the whole planet. Every Wookiee in the galaxy would know who he was.

As they walked out, he could see a holo graphic projection with pictures shifting between different famous Wookiee that had returned home to celebrate this coming Life Day/Peoples day after a long journey away. Suddenly it changed and was showing his face.

Joy.

Xander blinked. "You are famous?" he asked in wonder.

Sirrakuk, Lowbacka' younger sister, growled as she slammed her paw into Xander's shoulder: –Of course he is. Lowbacka is  
the greatest Jedi in the galaxy. So there-

Lowbacka wanted to hide, as he explained that this was Alexander Harris Solo, Jedi Master Xander Solo.  
Sirrakuk swallowed as she roared out a silent question or statement. –But he is your age right?-

Xander nodded. "It was because I had special knowledge in an area most Jedi have no knowledge about."

Sirrakuk nodded, it was then that she noticed it. "You understand Shyiiwook?" she growled out.

Xander answered in basic, "Only if you talk slowly."

Leia sighed. She never managed to learn what was said in Wookiee or Shyiiwook. Jaina did not really understand, but thanks to team training, she found a way to extend her understanding using the Force as a translator. It worked well, as long as Lowbacka did the same thing.

Outside there were plenty of Wookiee tourists and the rumors made them run, Lowbacka the Jedi Knight was here, soon the whole clan was needed just to create a safe zone.

*

Later in the clan house of Chewbacca at the city of Rwookrrorro

Attichitcuk explained that it was not their real home. As they would have too many guests they had hired this place, but it was close and they could easily visit their real house. Cakhmaim and Meewalh, the two Noghri body guards, created a safe zone where they patrolled around the building. As luck would have it, the Wookiee believed in the privacy of a home. Only when he was in public places would they pester Lowbacka.

*

Later next morning

It was early in the morning when Lowbacka awoke the rest of his family. This was something they needed to see. Even Han joined them.

Out on the big wooden terrace stood Xander with a blast helmet in his hand, with Jaina's and Leia's help, he had set up the steel ball bearings, all 2700 of them, and each of the 72 wax cylinders. At different heights and distances from each other. Some of the ball bearings were on the floor, others on top of the wax cylinders.

Xander took a deep breath. This was his second try this morning. He put the helmet on and the world turned dark. He ignored the watchers. This practice was difficult, if not impossible, to do in the cramped quarters of his ship. Both lightsabers activated with a hiss. Attichitcuk turned to his son, "Chewbacca, what it the young Jedi doing?" he growled out.  
Chewbacca shrugged, but Lowbacka answered. "It's a lightsaber combat exercise, one of control. He has to strike the steel ball bearings without hurting the cylinders. 2700 ball bearings with 72 cylinders surrounding them and all in one continuous move, with his eyes covered."

There was silence for a moment and then Sirrakuk growled. "That's not possible," she said, looking for confirmation from her big brother. Lowbacka looked down. "It's possible, just watch."

Then Xander was gone. In one move he started to dance, spin around and jumping, constantly striking from two directions at the same time. Not once could he slip up and make an uncontrolled move and just as he started to move, he stopped. The smell of burned steel filled the balcony a moment before the wind wafted it away and brought more fresh air.

The two Noghri watched in fascination.

Xander removed his helmet. "How many, Jaina, I got it to 2400 balls before I missed."

Jaina nodded. "The same," she said with pride. Xander's skill in this was moving faster than hers. It was not really a combat exercise. All the cadence did was make you able to control you saber better. Strike with increased precision, making mastering combat methods easier.

Xander sighed. "2100 or 2500, I just cannot seem to move over that limit yet," he said.

Han Solo turned to Luke. "Can you do that?" he asked. Luke nodded. "Yes. That was the second Cadence. The third Cadence is what a Jedi lightsaber Master should be able to do. Forth Cadence is what most Jedi lightsaber Masters might be able to do. Fifth Cadence is the mark of a true Master of lightsaber combat."

Luke looked at Han. "Using two lightsabers as Xander does makes this exercise harder, as it is about control and not about multiple cuts. If you hurt one of the cylinders or miss one of the ball bearings, the practice is over. You start from the beginning."

Indeed. He himself could do this using one Lightsaber, but with two? Not likely, it was too difficult to keep both under control at the same time.

The Wookiee were silent.

Lowbacka growled out to his sister. "That's why he is a Jedi Master and I am just a Jedi."  
The two Noghri nodded, wise words.

Xander, with the help of Jaina and Leia, soon had the balcony set up for the first Cadence again and Leia started to train. Han and Xander sat beside each other and watched her moves in the first Cadence. Jaina was sitting on the floor doing a telekinesis practice, using a hollow hemisphere the size of a salad bowl. Inside was one marble-sized ball, the type school children often played with. The ball was rolling around and around inside the hemisphere, even balancing on the lip of it. Jaina was sweating; this was difficult as the flat surface made the hemisphere wanting to move. She had to hold it still with the Force while rolling the ball.

*

Chloe wanted to murder Xander. Why? Because he managed to convince the Noghri to help him train her and they agreed. They were small, about her size, perhaps a bit smaller, but not by much. They were stronger than a normal human was. More around what her strength was, but she was faster. The Noghri ignored that though, as the skill they had made her look like an amateur, but they liked training her, even if she did not learn physical moves as fast as Rona did. She still mastered physical combat faster than a normal human would. That was something the grey assholes approved of. "I really hate Xander right now." she whined.

The Noghri nodded. "When you are in combat for your life or death, you will remember and change your mind," it said.

Chloe nodded. "I know, but right now…"

The Noghri grinned, "You are wondering were to hide his body," it said, remembering his time in training. Both of the Noghri liked Chloe. She was a fighter, yet she acted more like a child. Rona on the other hand deeply impressed them. The girl was learning faster than the two could teach her. Combined with her speed and strength, it was scary.

Xander had watched Leia a bit as she tried the first Cadence twice and had not yet mastered it, but she was on her way and that was good. "Let's go over the forms," he said, gripping his own lightsaber. He knew what she needed. "Leia, after Feed Week you are going to build a new lightsaber. That one is not right for you. You have outgrown it. Meditate on that and try to imagine how it really should look like. But now go over form five again."

Leia sighed. "Slave master," she said.

An hour later, as Xander and Jaina walked inside to shower and then take a tour into the town, Han helped escort a tired princess to rest. "How was it, honey?" he asked her.

Leia moaned. "He is a slave driver, but good. What he cannot do himself, he finds a way to let teach others instead."

Luke, coming up behind them, nodded. "I know this is something Master Xander should tell you. If he has not done so yet, I think your lightsaber is wrong. You have your…"

Leia waved her hand. "My son-in-law mentioned that. After Feed Week, until then he wants me to meditate and imagine how it really should look."

Luke smiled as he walked away. The kid was good.

**35. 9-1**

Note: Thanks to the nice work from Inachis here is the next part of this story. Those were formally the parts 9-2 – 9-4.

9-1

And so it came, the first day of the Feed week. Markets and carnivals filled the town. You could buy something, everywhere.  
Xander was surprised over the variety of things you could find. Computers and droids of all sorts, especially translator units were common, from easy to carry, like M-TD, to big like C3-P0, from repulsor to ion engines, from woodcraft and weapons, but as it was a market, most of it was food, candy and gifts of all kinds for the civilians, and jewelry. Xander mention it to Leia, twice before she understood. "Jewelry, perhaps you should look if they have anything." Seeing her blank face he said, "You are supposed to build a new lightsaber, correct?"

Now she got it and pulled poor Han Solo away, followed by her Noghri bodyguards.

Jaina grinned. "Let's get some candy," she said and pulled Xander away. Eating candy while watching young Wookiee testing their strength against each other was a fun thing to see. Since a 5-6 year old Wookiee child had the strength of an adult human. They were smaller, about the same size as a 7-8 year old human child, but stronger, and seeing the young Wookiee run around jumping and playing among the branches truly showed how strong they were.

"Look," Xander said as they watched a pair of younger teenagers, older then Lowbacka, but younger then Lumpawaroo, who was around 26 years old. Considering that the average lifespan of a Wookiee is around 600 years, Lumpawaroo was considered a young man not really ready to settle down yet. A Wookiee would normally marry somebody after he has been alive 50 years or more. Chewbacca, the father of Lumpawaroo, was around 220 years old himself.

These teens were just children, like many considered Lowbacka to be, a child Jedi. Powerful and famous, but still a child. Lumpawaroo was a young adult and kept a close eye on his cousins, who consisted of, thanks to an honor depth, the whole Skywalker and Solo family.

Jaina and Xander were a bit young by their standards.

Seeing the teens coming closer to the two humans, who so far seemed to be unaware of them, Lumpawaroo could hear from their voices that they were planning to scare the two humans.

Lumpawaroo growled irritated, young punks. Then both Xander and Jaina vanished in thin air. The punks were just as confused as the others were and afraid that the adults would blame them for the two human tourists that had vanished. They quickly ran away.

Lumpawaroo looked around and could not see them, when suddenly he heard Xander's voice behind him. "Thanks for the help, Lumpy. Do you know any fun places to go around here?" he asked.

Lumpawaroo sighed. They had picked up Han's nickname for him. "What do you like to do?" To his amusement the two Jedi were confused by that.

Xander paused to consider the question. "Um, all I do is train or repair and rebuild my ship or relax with you darling. Why don't you come up with a good idea?" he said to Jaina.

Jaina looked just as confused. "Um, I know, a game arcade," she said.

Lumpy growled out, he knew just the place.

*

Later at the game arcade

Computer games of all sorts, even dance games.

Xander blinked. "That's Dance Revolution. How the hell was that possible?"

The others nodded. It was popular with younger children and teenagers.

Xander sighed, a dimensional evil twin mirror version. That would explain it. It was fun relaxing and eating at the game arcade. Lumpy was fun to hang out with, he was more relaxed than Lowbacka, but also more easily to anger.

*

Later at the home

Xander opened his eyes as he interrupted his after dinner meditation. "Luke, do you feel what I feel?"

Luke nodded carefully. "Yes, I think I do," he said.

Xander lips twitched. "Just remember, Mara is your wife. Jaina is mine."

Chewbacca roared in laughter at the joke.

Luke rolled his eyes. "There is danger in the air. Has anyone of you felt something?" he asked.

Jacen nodded and so did Jaina. "We cannot pinpoint it," they both said in twin speak.

Anakin frowned. "I just feel jumpy," he said.

Leia nodded. "It's like darkness is focusing its anger towards us," she frowned.

Chloe shrugged. Her ESP was not that exact.

Luke was worried. "We should wait until the right moment comes, then we will defend ourselves."

Xander shook his head. "We can wait and let whatever it is endanger the family or we can do a preemptive strike in defense of our family," he said, looking at Luke, Master to Master.

Luke looked back. "Attack is of the darkside, remember that."

Xander replied: "It's not attack, it's preemptive self defense. We know something is aiming its anger at us."

Luke agreed. "But it might only be their anger, nothing more." he defended his point.

Xander nodded. "Right, but a preemptive scouting trip to find out if they are planning on attacking or are just angry at us for some reason couldn't hurt."

Luke smiled. "That's the way a Jedi should act." Scouting was a peaceful, yet preemptive defense move. "But if they are planning an attack, we should teach them why that's a bad idea."

Xander agreed on that. Yep, preemptive self defense was best and he faded into the air.

On the balcony the Noghri looked on with envy. He too wanted to fade in the air and he faded away into the darkness  
following the tracks the young Jedi left on the rock hard wood branch that was the road outside.

Sensing the anger of the focused feeling of malice was hard, but he found it and somehow a Noghri had followed him. He extended his cloak around the Noghri. It did not even jump. "Hi there, don't worry, nothing can see or hear us inside my Cloak, but it's draining energy." he explained.

The Noghri nodded. "But your footprints still smell and you leave tracks a blind and drunk Gamorean could follow."

Xander blinked. Was Meewalh angry with him and why? He felt envy from the Noghri and for the life of him Xander could not figure out why the super ninja life form beside him was envious over his super invisible trick.

Inside the room were 25 mandaloorian mercenaries and 15 Republic Special Commandos. RSCs were the best of the best, created by Crix Maddin himself. Small cages like backpacks were holding Ysalamir. One was studying information on Luke, him, Jaina and Jacen. They had bombs, robot bombs. They were talking about sending the bombs at the home, taking out as many of them as possible when they believed they were safe. Once Luke would crawl out of the building, the Mandaloorians with the Ysalamir would weaken him and any other Jedi that was alive and let the RSCs arrest them. They did not care about Chewbacca's family.

Xander frowned as he looked around. Meewalh looked angry at the way these creeps were planning on attacking. Innocent life would die, that was no way for an assassin to work. Assassins should be like a scalpel, a knife, taking away only what was needed, not a clumsy bomb that destroyed everything.

Xander saw the solution, the building itself. If it came to a fight, he could take them. "Go back. Tell the others. I wait here and gather information. We have to act fast and put the innocent in a safe place. Especially baby Ben," he said. The Noghri's eyes lighted up.

Protect the baby Vader, Meewalh thought as he vanished. Behind him, Xander picked from his armor pocket a few small  
steel ball bearings. Filling his hand with them, he took one between each of his fingers except the thumb. He removed the Force cloak. Standing in the shadows, he was invisible as long as nobody looked his way. Aiming more with the Force than his eyes, he used Ballistakinesis.

The Ysalamir created a bubble that repressed the use of the Force inside said bubble. The more Ysalamir you have, the larger the bubble. Ballistakinesis accelerated up a tiny object to the speed of a bullet or more. Once the bullet was air borne, it was controlled by only the normal laws of physic. He aimed the ball bearings, using the Force like the pipe of a gun. One of his four ball bearings would hit on four of the five Ysalamir.

He suspected as one of the Ysalamir cages was in front of the one he could not hit, that that lizard might be hit anyway. At the speed he shoot the ball bearings would go straight through the Ysalamir and penetrate the wall on the other side of it.  
PLOF. CRUNSH was heard as 4 Ysalamir died instantly and 4 tiny holes were created in the wall. The fifth Ysalamir screeched in pain before dying as well.

Snap. Hiss. Snap. Hiss.

He walked into the room as calmly as if he were the king of the world. "I heard you wanted to murder a family of Jedi and Wookiee," he said.

The Mandaloorian mercenary, only a girl, reacted first. She drew her gun so fast Xander could almost not follow her. He was lucky that his plan of attack involved him bending down and cutting asunder the roof and the carrying branch that held this whole house up.

Just as the Mandaloorian girl pulled the trigger, the Jedi dived down, pushing his lightsaber into the floor, cutting it up. She frowned, what is he doing?

Then the room started to tip over and then they were falling down, over the edge and down into the wilds below of Kashyyyk. As the house crashed into a branch lower down and bounced off, Xander swished his lightsaber and lightdagger around, creating a circle of death, and broke open a window. Using Force flight he jumped up, landing in the broken window, looking first out, then in. One of the Mandaloorians, the girl again, attacked him, and almost caught him. She was way faster than a normal human. He Force pushed her way.

Dana swore as she slammed into the wall. The building was rotating in the air. Roof and floor were sideways now.  
"Damn it." The rotation of death the Jedi had made damaged one of the thermal detonators. "GET OUT. It's going to explode," she yelled to her fellow Mandaloorians. Then using her mystical powers she speeded up. From her normal 4 times as fast and strong to the incredible 8 times as fast and strong. The Jetpack on her back sent her flying like a rocket out of a second window.

She could see the Jedi was floating away. Not towards a tree. "You want to play tough? Well, here's to you, bright boy." Dana growled as she pulled the trigger, sending one micro concussion rocket towards the Jedi.

Xander was just about to reach the tree when he felt danger. A missile was coming, one he could not parry, and he was not fast enough to push it away. There was only one solution. He stopped flying and pushed himself down. The missile missed and exploded at a distance. As fast as he could, he passed the bouncing and spinning house just as that too exploded and both Dana and Xander felt how everything turned dark.

Above them Meewalh watched. He had not come a fraction of the way when he heard a crunching sound and the house the mercenaries were hiding in fell over and down into the forest below. They were on top of the huge tree with over 2 km of branches, animals and objects that could break your fall if you were lucky.

If not, you were dead. Even if you survive, you were dead.

A huge explosion interrupted the Noghri. "Crapp, Lady Vader and her daughter are so going to be upset," and he liked the young Jedi Master Xander. He was sneaky and a good husband to the young Lady Vader.

*

Later

Darkness and pain, Xander shivered as he used the Force to lower his ability to feel pain and to analyze his own body there was nothing broken, although pieces of something had managed to pierce his arm.

He had been knocked around, slammed into hard stuff and overheated. The new heat protection had stopped the armor from burning, but the cooling system had broken down from the heat, but it had kept him alive, when the fire was at its worst.

He opened his eyes. Yapp, he was surrounded by burned fragments of a building. Perhaps a fire bomb had exploded around him. Looking down he could see a broken sharp piece of steel or something had pierced his arm, straight through his armor. He pulled it out, ate a bacta cookie and activated a healing trance. This Feed week sucked. At least vampires do not attack during Christmas. With his healing ability active, he pulled of his armor and grabbed the med-pack. Nine minutes later he felt better. Using the water cleaner he got fresh clean water from a hole in a nearby tree where dirty water had gathered. He was back in business, but looking around he lost his joy. He could not even see the Wookiee City above him. It was much too high up for him to fly anyway. The lower branches he fell through hid it completely. In other words he was deep down where even a Jedi Master was only a tiny being that tasted good with ketchup and on some worlds you actually go down in the forest to camp under the tree.

A roar of anger nearby got his attention and he crawled below a bush. There, a huge monster walked by, four feet, a big horn and the teeth of an omnivore. The pair of horns on its head was dripping with poison. "Jolly, a cow with poison horns." he whispered inside his helmet as the beast walked away.

There, he felt a movement. Snap: hiss He lighted his lightsaber and parried the rain of bolts coming from his side. It was not plasma bolts, rather charged particle bolts. There, looking almost as banged up as he felt was the female Mandaloorian. She held her gun aimed at him as she switched a button.

Xander frowned as he recognized the heavy pistol she was holding, a concussion gun. Rapid non explosive bolts. Single fire explosive bolts.

The Mandaloorian started to shoot. Each bolt created an almost hand grenade like explosion whenever she hit and she was an expert at shooting. No one her age should be that good. Bouncing between the trees in full Force speed, it was all Xander could do to keep the explosions from killing him.

Every counter attack she dodged, as if she could feel him in advance.

Then it clicked. The feeling he got from her. She was a Force Guardian, a potential Slayer from Earth.  
"Wait, I'm from USA, good old Sunnydale in sunny California," he screamed in English and then sang: "Coca Cola is it. Can beat the feeling you get with Coca Cola."

The girl finished the song. "Can't beat the feeling," she sang. Her hands trembled as memories of doctors trying to help her filled her mind. In the end they just locked her away. Memory flashes of being kidnapped and experimented on, used to create new drugs.

She shook her head. So he was from Earth. She was a Mandaloorian. As the Jedi stood there believing he had reached her, she reloaded and pulled up the blaster gun.

"Shit," Xander screamed as the girl started to fire again, now with two guns.

Die, die, die, die, echoed in Dana's mind as she fired full automatic fire from the small, but powerful disruptor gun in her left hand. The concussion gun in her right hand fired slower, but each blast created small craters the size of a human grave.  
Then something stood up from the whole in the ground she just created. Seven meters tall, it was as big as a rancor, but had a longer nose and jaws. From the side of the head two gigantic tusks over two meters long pointed forward. Its fangs and teeth were too big and too sharp and way too many for anyone to look at without nightmares. The arms were longer than a rancor's, like a gorilla's they reached down to the ground and ended in hand like paws, which had huge over meter long claws. The legs were short and stumpy with the feet full of short, but powerful claws.

As it shook of the dirt and dust that had collected on top of it under its millennium long sleep, the beast shrugged to get the last of the dirt of. Somebody had awoken it and hurt its sensitive ears. Somebody would die. It sniffed and yes somebody nearby was strong in the lightside of the Force.

Xander swallowed, his data-pad with info on the dangerous life form was melted, but he knew, thanks to the ghost, he knew. It was a real Terentatek. Like the old ghost of Deesra Luur had said: "The Terentatek is a predator, and we Jedi are its prey."

Xander shivered.

If it was still sleepy, they could sneak away. No way was the Mandaloorian stupid enough to anger it.

Dana aimed her concussion gun between the eyes of the beast. "Die ugly." she said and pulled the trigger.  
An explosion on top of the Terentateks head ended all hope of sneaking away while the darkside beast was still tired and confused. The explosion on its head made it stumble back, but it soon roared back an ear deafening roar of anger as it attacked the mandalorian female. Dana, "eeeped," as she fired both guns, the disruptor did not even penetrate its skin, it just caused the beast more pain and created more anger. The explosion from the concussion pistol did hurt the beast, but the wounds were tiny and hardly visible.

She fired up her jet back and flew to safety in the last second as the beast claws ripped up the ground where she once stood. As she landed behind the beast and reached for a reload, it had suddenly turned around. In its hand was a gigantic stone, held like a club and not like a missile. It threw the rock with deadly aim. Dana dived to the side in the last second.  
The beast had reloaded and held a second rock it was aiming at her. Then that blasted Jedi came from nowhere and landed on the monsters nose.

He slashed and cut with his lightsabers, doing almost no damage to the beast skin, but it must have hurt the monster. It used the stone and smashed it hard into its own head.

The moment he landed on the Terentatek head, Xander cut, slashed, stabbed as much as he could, focusing the Force to cut deep, but the powerful field around the beast protected it against pure Force attacks. In the corner of his eyes he saw that his plan worked, the beast raised its arm, still holding the rock, and slammed it down hard.

In the last second Xander Force jumped away, landing near the Mandaloorian girl, picking her up and jumping away with her in his arms. Behind them the monster fell to the ground, wobbly from the smash in its head.

"Let me go Jedi!" Dana screamed as she started to aim her weapon. She could not believe the stupid Jedi managed to kill that monster.

Xander agreed and dropped her in mid air. Dana screamed "YOU Bastard," as she fell down and she landed hard on the soft ground.

Xander landed nearby. "Keep silent. The Terentatek is still alive and it's hunting us now."

Dana froze as she heard a roar of anger that could only come from something big and dangerous. "You know what that is?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "Terentatek, if you anger it, it will follow you to the end of the world to kill you, there are only four ways to make it angry. 1 you hurt it, 2 surprise it, 3 you are a Jedi and number 4 you taste good. It's a failed weapon made by the Sith long ago. They made a terrible mistake."

Dana frowned. "What is the mistake they made?" Perhaps that would be a clue on how to kill it.

Xander shrugged. "The weapons they created got hungry."

Dana gabbed at him. "That was the mistake. Perhaps I should feed you to the Terentatek, Jedi," she hissed.

Xander was about to answer when they felt a shadow move above them. "RUN" he said.

Dana followed in the last second, just before the beast landed where they had just been. "It's moving fast for a big monster," she hissed. She was sure her Mandaloorian armor would not slow down the monster when the time came to for it to eat her, only make it more painful as it slowly chewed her apart.

Firing her gauntlet blaster at full power and aiming at the eyes, she tried to blind it. She swore the beast looked like it was blinded by a flash. No burn mark on its eyes or head. "What the hell did they make the monster out of?" she screamed in frustration.

Xander answered. "Anger, hatred, and everything bad are what young Terentatek are made from," he said in a rhyme.  
Dana shivered. "I thought it was sugar and spice and everything nice is what little girls are made from." She tried not to grin, that was an interesting Jedi. The monster roared in anger, grabbing a log the size of a Y-wing and around 16 meters long. He tossed it like a spear against them.

The two dodged as Xander pulled up his bryar gun and started to fire. "Listen, the ancient Jedi did kill these beasts, during the Great Hunt." Xander said. "So there has to be a way."

Dana cried, "How? My blaster hardly hurts it." She zoomed in, using the helmets macro binocular. "The fucker, he healed the wounds I gave it already."

Xander spat out a curse, "Crapp, it's big and almost invulnerable to hurt and it can do a Wolverine. Now I understand why they had to cancel the Great Hunt." The Terentatek killed more Jedi than the Jedi killed Terentatek. At least it was a monster that liked Jedi and Sith equally as food.

Dana swore. "Right, must be sensitive to something. Don't tell me you were a comic geek." She wanted to scream, the monster and a comic geek.

Xander frowned as the monster came charging at them. Using the Force, he sent a deadly rain of steel ball bearings at it. "Crystals. You could harvest crystals from their body, crystals that gave a lightsaber a unique ability," he said. "One has to hurt it. The other has to cut it. Repeat until its dead. The Jedi were small and taste good with ketchup. So they stopped the Great Hunt. It can even block direct attacks from the Force. Force Push, Force Lightning, nothing like that works on it." He screamed to Dana as he jumped away, slashing at the Claws of the Terentatek.

It roared in anger as it followed him, slashing with its claws, destroying everything around it. An explosion at its back made it turn around looking after the Mandaloorian girl. Xander yelled back: "And nothing wrong with comics, they're fun."  
Dana crawled behind a group of smaller trees. The Terentatek could not reach her right now, but it was rapidly destroying the trees that were shielding her. "Are you kidding me? Bait and attack, that's the fucking plan?"

Looking at her ammo, she saw was almost out of concussion ammo packs. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?" she asked. She saw the Jedi jump down and slash the monster behind its knee.

A weak spot, the monster started to bleed. Then she saw it, a green fluid oozed out and healed the wound. The Terentatek was again focused on the Jedi, using a fist full of gravel stone dirt it threw at the Jedi.

Dana sighed. "Comics are kids stuff," she said. Not that she really knew. Between being used as a drug test lab rat and a fuck toy of a sick group of criminals that used children to test the new drugs they created, then complete insanity in a mental hospital, she really never had the time to read comics that much.

Xander dodged the rain of dirt and rocks the size of his head as he freed his lightdagger. It had a special crystal that focused the ray sharper and cut better. The down side was the short length. "Here," he said, throwing her the blade. "I bet you loved soap operas," he said, sounding sad.

Dana nodded, gun in one hand, lightdagger in the other. "Here" she said, throwing over something to Xander. "When it's hurt and bleeding, green slime oozes out from the wounds and it seems to patch it together again." She aimed her disruptor at the eye. The Terentatek screamed in pain as it was blinded for a short while and then it attacked the armored girl.

*

Dana backed away as the Jedi prepared his attack. He grinned and held up a big T-6 Thunderer. "Thanks. My friend loves his T-6, let's see what's so special about it." That gun could perhaps even hurt the beast. "Saw the slime myself," he said, aiming at the other eye, sending a short blast in it. The Terentatek was blinded. They could see the slime repairing the eye almost as fast as they could hurt it.

Dana growled. "Right, it always focuses first on whoever it was that hurt it the last." She turned to Xander. "Did you also see that?" she asked him.

Xander nodded. "Yes, I think I did. I go high and you go low. Remember the first rule of Xander's book of combat. Don't die, let the enemy die instead."

Dana grinned at that. "You are singing my song, Jedi," she said as they turned to the beast. It was only fair, she had the more long distance weapon, the better armor and she was a greater warrior.

The Terentatek was healed now, roaring in anger. Under its millennium of life it had never been hurt this bad. Now it wanted to feed.

A blast of concussion blasts in its head rocked its body as it turned to destroy the girl. As it rushed her, something landed on its nose. The moment the monster rushed the Mandaloorian girl, Xander jumped down, driving his lightsaber into the tiny open wound she had created, swirling it around as much as he could, before he had to dive for protection again.  
The monster roared as it felt a burn inside its nose and mouth, an open wound that quickly healed, it turned after Xander, slashing at the ground were the Jedi just had been. Xander rolled for protection and slashed at the monsters knee cap as he ran under the legs of the beast.

The Terentatek was fast. Even using Force speed he was pushed to the limit. Just one mistake and it would catch him. Before it had the chance to turn, Dana blasted the knee cap with her concussion rifle and the moment she spotted the slime, she fired the disruptor full auto into the wound.

Dirty smoke filled the air as the green slime crystallized in the wound. The monster stood up, now limping, and it looked confused. Why was the wound not healing?

Xander landed near the girl. "You are a genius. Only two things stop me from kissing you right now, my wife and our helmets." He could feel the Mandaloorian girl smile under the helm.

They had to burn or use the disruptor to disrupt the slime on a molecular level. He could think of easier things to do.  
"I attack and create an opening, then you attack and I cauterize the wound," Dana said. "And be careful. I'm Dana." Without the Jedi, she knew she was dead. She humped over the lightdagger. He would need both.

Xander nodded. "I'm Jedi Knight Alexander or Xander. Jedi Master Xander," he said with a grin. Waving his hand, he did a powerful Force push, creating a tidal wave of dirt and plants. The wave of dirt looked tiny compared to the Terentatek, but it made it loose its balance and trip. Dana wasted no time as she fired her gun into the back of the left shoulder of the beast. It roared out of anger as it jumped up to attack her, but Xander was there in time, as he slashed down with both lightblades, cutting and slashing the monster as deeply as he could. It roared in anger and turned around so fast it send Xander flying.

Dana pulled the trigger on the disruptor and more crystals were formed. Looking, she could see the Jedi float in the air as he landed. He did say Jedi Master. The Republic only paid them to attack ONE Jedi Master. She could break the deal without giving the money back. "It's working!" she said as the beast had difficulty in moving its left arm.

Xander nodded. "Yea, but look at it," he said. The monster's eyes were glowing in anger. A mighty roar and it attacked faster than they had ever seen it move before. They dodged the attack in the last second, but the follow up attack sent rocks and dirt flying at both Xander and Dana.

Xander was sent flying as rocks hit him in the back. Dana crashed down, dirt and rocks larger then her head hitting her. She could see the monster had used the claws to dig up rocks and dirt and send them as a rain of missiles towards them.  
The Jedi was out of it. Only her super human physic and Mandaloorian armor saved her from being groggy. She could see the Jedi was recovering faster than a normal human should have though, but the Terentatek would not let him. She opened fire in its jaw, using her gauntlet missile, the last one. At close range they were dead unless the body of the Terentatek was harder than they expected. The explosion inside the mouth of the Terentatek made it look like a dragon as flames 8 meters long came shooting from its mouth. It fell on its knees, obviously groggy.

Dana rushed over and lifted the Jedi away. She could see behind her that new fangs were growing from the Terentatek.  
Xander mumbled, confused. "What happened? I feel like a pair of Wookiee decided to kick me around." He could feel a crack in his shoulder blade, but it was not broken yet. His head were spinning from the hits. His neck was hurting. His armor helm had protected his head, but the neck armor was soft. Only luck had saved him from a broken neck.

Dana grunted. "We got caught in a rain of stones," she said.

The Jedi replied, "Yea. It's good that you Force Guardians are difficult to hurt." He was trying to use the Force to reduce the injury in order to regain his ability to fight. It was a desperate thing to do. Reducing injury would let a wounded Jedi fight as if he was uninjured, but after the battle, he would be more hurt than he would have been, as it aggravated his wounds.  
Dana knew the Jedi did something as he stood up by himself again. "Force Guardians?" she said.

Xander nodded. "Long story, a group of girls like you, all of them from Earth. Arriving here, their potential powers mutated and activated, making them Force Guardians."

Behind them the Terentatek was standing again. Its knee and shoulder were hurt, but the wound in its mouth Dana had caused had healed by now.

"It's still groggy," she said, aiming at the right eye. "Don't let it regain its sight again."

Xander nodded, "Right."

She opened fire and blasted with her gauntlet blaster. A tiny wound in the eye was created, as it was a less armored part of the monster's body. Xander arrived seconds later, driving his lightsaber in as deep as he could and jamming his lightdagger in the monsters eyebrow.

It screamed and started to trash around, but Xander had jumped down, rushing for protection as Dana started to fire her disruptor into the destroyed eye, stopping the green slime from rebuilding it and the eyebrow.

They did it. It was blind on one side.

"Dana, good thinking, let's take the shoulder first. Then the left eye," Xander said. He could see that the monster was holding his wounded left arm protectively over the working eye.

Dana nodded. "Not an easy target, in its back, gut high." She was not sure, but it looked like a good target. Most alien lizard like species had important organs or something that, if hurt, would create pain in that area or even kill it. Even Rancor's had that a weakness and Rancor's are reptomammals. Mammalians with traits of reptilians or reptilians with traits of mammalians, she was not sure which.

Xander shrugged as the Mandaloorian fired in a strange area of the monsters back. As the explosion made the monster turn and send rocks at Dana, Xander attacked close range again, driving the lightsaber as deep as he could and twisted it around.

The Terentatek roared in anger as a vital body part was pierced inside it. The moment Xander had moved out of the way, Dana sent blasts of disruptor energy at the Terentatek, cauterizing the wound. It roared in anger and pain. It was dying now and it would take days of pain before it was dead.

As it roared in protest and pain, Dana opened fire again with her blaster gauntlet. The beast roared, as its left eye was gone, but this time it shielded the wounded eye. Dana opened fire at the neck with the concussion pistol. The monster roared in confusion. Which should it protect now, the eye or the neck? Then Xander attacked, driving the lightsaber deep into its neck, twisting it around, making it hurt.

The beast answered the attack with a wild swing of its big paws. Xander felt the armor breastplate crack from the smash as he flew away.

Dana fired again, this time with the concussion pistol right in the wounded eye. The green slime was rebuilding it and it exploded, sending green slime and skin parts flying around. The Terentatek roared in pain, green slime were leaking out, rebuilding the wounded part of its head, but Dana was forced to run as the blind beast attacked her.

Xander groaned in pain. He would feel this in the morning. Standing up, he used Force flight to land up on the beast. Seeing a huge hole where the eye should be, he slashed with his lightsaber, both blades cutting and cauterizing the wound. Flipping a switch, he made his lightsaber grow to its full 2 meter length. Inside the wound, he twisted the blade, making it cut around deeper and deeper.

The Terentatek stopped, its body shivered in pain.

On the head Xander had both his arms tucked inside the eye, pushing the lightblades deeper and deeper inside. Slashing and wiggling the now 2 meter long blade, burning everything he could on the inside. He finally found the Terentatek brain, deep inside the head. Its 7 meter tall body was shivering as if fell down.

Xander pulled and pulled, but the green slime had trapped him. It formed crystal like manacles around his arms. One mighty pull and he got his arms free from the monster.

He looked at Dana. "Need some help here," he said. Both his arms were chained together by the green crystal. The still active lightsabers tucked out from the crystal manacles that were hiding his arms.

Dana took a deep breath to calm her. "Right I," she frowned. Repulsors, "Looks like help is coming. I have to go," she said.  
Xander jumped. "Wait. No, don't." The Mandaloorian girl, a Force Guardian, vanished into the forest in one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy. He suspected that if the normal monsters and beast were careful, Dana might let them live.  
He too felt the presence of Jaina, Jacen, Lowbacka and Luke coming closer and closer. Nice to be saved even if it was a little late, but standing next to a dead monster with both his arms trapped in a crystal was a bit strange. He slammed his arms hard into a tree five times, creating cracks in the crystal, and finally he broke free.

The repulsor raft was armed with heavy cannons and Wookiee were ready to fire as it flew closer and closer. Around him and the monster was a area of burned forest, craters, destroyed rocks and damaged trees.

"I so needed the cannon just a moment ago." Xander said from his position, sitting on the Terentatek's nose.  
Jaina jumped down. "Xander!" she yelled, hugging him. "I was so worried. I thought you died. I felt I," then she started to cry. "Why did you do it?" she said, angered.

Xander shushed her. "Calm down. I had to. One of the Mandaloorians was a Force Guardian. Nice girl by the way." He saw them look at him. "O don't worry, she ran away somewhere. I'm sure the nature life will survive her if they run away." He could see Jacen and Lowbacka were poking the dead monster.

Luke and Leia walked up at a slower pace. "What is that?" Leia asked.

Xander answered. "From what I suspect, it's a Terentatek. An ancient dark beast created and spread out by the Sith, but they made a mistake. The Terentatek liked to eat Force users, doesn't matter if it's a darksider or a lightsider, and it's always hungry," he said.

Luke nodded. "I read a bit about them. The Jedi tried to kill them all, to exterminate them," he frowned.

Xander slapped the beast were the eye had been, grabbing one of the crystals. "Look at that." he said.

Luke grabbed it, watching the crystal. It felt like… "Its. It could be used as a lightsaber crystal," he said in wonder.

Xander nodded. "Yea, the old ghost said so. Each beast successfully killed during the Great Hunt gave them a small fortune in crystals and lots of dead Jedi," he said.

Leia smiled. "So I can find my crystal here," she said.

Xander yawned. "Yes. Yes. Mom you will, but Jaina, me, Jacen, Lowbacka, all of us are going to grab a crystal. They create special abilities in a lightsaber if you focus the Force inside of it during combat."

He grinned. "The rest I'm going to make a trophy out of." Wonder if he could turn the head upside down and make an armchair to relax in out of it. No a small love seat. He smiled as he fell into a deep healing sleep.

Luke helped them load the beast on the repulsor skiff before it lifted up. They looked around the battle ground. It must have been a hard fight.

**36. 9-2**

Note: And here is thanks to Inachis the last part of chapter 9.

Later

The bactate cookies in his body were working hard and with the help of Jedi Healing, cracked and broken bones were knitted together, bruised and hurt flesh, both exterior and interior, were being healed as he slept.

It was late on day 2 of Feed week as Xander walked out of his and Jaina's room. They all stared at him. Dressed in his boxer shorts and nothing more, he was a bit underdressed.

The scars he got from hunting vampires were visible, as were the cuts from vampire claws and the ones his dear mom and dad had given him, and the gills too, do not forget the gills. They always made others stare at him when they saw them.  
Chloe was drooling, now that was how a man should look. Jaina thanked the Force that she married him. Mara Jade wished she was younger and unmarried.

Samy smiled as she leaned into her boyfriend and whispered, "Jacen, have you ever considered a threesome?" Jacen, dreaming of both Samy and Tenel-ka, nodded. "Yes, many times my love."

Samy's smile widened. "I'll have to ask him then."

With bacta present in medical centrums, really bad scars were not that common. "Good morning. Jaina, I love you, but anybody who gives me food right now, I'm going to love even more," he said, sitting down by the table.

Kallabow, Lowbacka's mother, hurried over at that. The young human was hungry. She knew the young man was eating almost as much as her own boy Lowbacka was. It was good to see a near-human with a healthy appetite.

Xander took one look at the feast she gave him and said only one thing. "I love you Kallabow. You are my hero." He said it with a smile. Jaina voice purred in his ears. "More than me?" she asked.

Xander looked at her. "She gave me food." he said before kissing her as deeply and with as much passion and emotion as he could, leaving a slightly drooling and smiling Jaina behind as he continued eating. "But perhaps I still love you more," he said.

Mara turned to Luke. "Listen farm boy. Jedi Master or not, you better start kissing me like that or you're going to regret it."

Luke nodded. "Let's train later," he said.

A big breakfast later, the others were having a late night dinner.

Luke turned to Xander and handed over a bag of gems. "We found these inside the monster. The green slime had crystallized into gems, perfect for lightsabers. Even the crystals formed in the wound will work. These gems have powerful presences in the Force," he said.

Xander nodded while feeling the weight of the bag. "How many are there?" he asked.

Luke shrugged, "Over 50 gems."

Leia nodded. "I decided not to use one. I can use the gem I have in my old lightsaber. It's a combination of a powerful Karribur crystal Luke gave me and emeralds from Alderaan."

Xander nodded. Feeling the stones, he picked up a pair for himself. "Jaina, you choose first then Lowbacka, Jacen, Samy and Luke can pick one for themselves. No, not Luke or Leia," he could see the older Jedi were happy with what they had.  
He had seen the fragmented part of the Karribur crystal. It was powerful and it became more powerful the closer you were to its home world. The rare lightsabers build with a Karribur crystal in them served their owners better than any other gems would.

His lightsaber had two gems. He would have to see how he would do it. A lightsaber with a length shifting blade needed 2-3 gems. If he increased the length of the lightdagger hilt, he could put 2 gems inside it and make it possible to turn the dagger into a lightsaber length blade or he could remove one of the two Adegan crystals in his lightsaber and put one of the monster crystals inside and the Opila gem from his dagger. That way, he would gain the bonus of the focused ray from the Opila, the deeper connection the Adegan gave him and whatever the monster gem would give him, as well as retaining the size changing ability from 1-2 meters. Then extending the hilt of the lightdagger and setting one monster gem and the last Adegan crystal inside it, he could make the blade turn from a tiny 30 cm blade to a full 130 cm blade just by switching a button.

It would work.

Eating and thinking made him tired. "I'm going back to sleep. Jaina, would you put the gems in my box, please? They all have chosen one to use right?" She nodded as her husband walked back to sleep.

*

The next day started. It was day 3 of Feed week, Remembrance Day. A day dedicated to remembering those that work hard to make your life easier, a Day where songs of heroes long gone were sung. Knowing tomorrow was Life and Peoples day, the Wookiee were preparing for the celebration of the millennium.

*

In the home

Xander was gently drilling Leia in the 6 forms. To his surprise, Luke and Mara joined them. Luke was good, mostly self trained with his own style of fighting. Only later did he have a chance to learn from Yoda who had trained him especially to take down Darth Vader. Getting the chance to improve his skills in the forms was not something he said no to, and Mara was much the same in her style of fighting.

It was something Xander enjoyed. Luke trained them as much as he trained Luke, giving them tips and correcting their fighting stands. In real combat Jedi VS Jedi, Luke would kick his ass, but the fact was that Luke was powerful and skilled, but he also was a bit sloppy in his forms and self trained to the level of a Master. The unpredictable moves and his less than stellar skills in the forms made him deadly. For Luke, it worked after all he was a Master of lightsabers.

Mara showed them a way to sneak the blade past the enemy's defense by gliding your own lightblade on the enemy's blade. If you succeeded, the enemy would lose some fingers, if you failed the enemy would have at worst learned the trick of it. It was a sneaky trick she learned as the Emperor's hand.

As the party in town grew wilder, they joined the celebration.

Wild drums were beating, flutes were being played and the singers were crowing out the song in pace with the music as a Wookiee band played a song nearby.

"Why don't you buy me a beer, stranger?" a teenage girl said as she leaned against the table near Xander and Jaina. Jaina frowned. Who was that hussy?

Xander grinned. "Perhaps I will Dana. Perhaps I will." He waved the bartender closer. "Two lum, thanks." He turned to the Mandaloorian girl. "I'm surprised over you age, I suspected that you would be older."

Jaina frowned. This was the bounty hunting Mandaloorian Xander told them about?

Dana shrugged. "I'm not sure what age I am. Extremely bad childhood ended up with a fragmented mind. The Mandaloorians found me and used mind healing tech to repair my sanity. We believe I might be between 16 or 18. Being naturally short doesn't help."

She said with a smile. "So, now you know why I'm loyal to the Mandaloore. What was that you said about Force Guardians?" She asked as she took one of the lum.

Lum was an acquired taste, but it was a unique mix that made it impossible to overdose on it. No chance to get alcohol poisoning if you drank too much and the hang over the next day was mild.

Xander took his lum.

It was like beer, but with more taste in it. "Right, lets begins with Earth, the hidden shadows of Earth." He began his story, which gave him one surprised "No way," and an angry "Are you fucking with me?" from Dana.

Jaina was with them as they talked, trying to get the girl to join them as a Force Guardian and not as an expensive Mandaloorian mercenary. (Mandaloorians are many things, but not cheap. Even if Bobba Fett once killed a whole army of slavers for the price of 10 credits, but that was to prove a point and considering the economical situation his customer, the last living example of his species, lived in, 10 credits was all the treasure that being owned. The entire treasure of a whole race of aliens, in the end most Mandaloorians considered that job well paid indeed.)

*

Later

Xander was trying to think about fish, ice, Durga the Hutt, anything, as Dana and Jaina were twisting their bodies around him as they danced to the rocking music of the Wookiee party. It didn't really help, as his weapon was armed and ready. He hoped he could sit down without anybody seeing it.

Judging by the giggling from both Dana and Jaina, it was too late and the woofing sound from the bartender as he got more lum to drink showed him that even the Wookiee knew. His wife was evil. He then looked at her, a perfect body and eyes in which he lost himself every time he saw into them.

Dana watched the two Jedi, just looking in each other's eyes and lost to the whole world. She felt like a pig, seeing a fairytale love that she had tried to destroy.

If she returned, Bobba Fett the Mandaloore of the Mandaloorians would be angry, but he would understand. The risk of failure is part of any war. Besides, she found indication of betrayal during the mission. She had taken a medical checkup after fighting the monster and the doctor doing the work had said there was evidence that eggs and blood samples had been stolen from her body. If she ever wanted children in the future, cloning or DNA mixing would be her only option. Only the slavers or the Mandaloorians could have done that.

"Let's dance," she said to the two Jedi and pulled Xander up to the dance floor again. Jaina shrugged as she took a sip of her lum. "Hi Jacen and Samy," she said to Samy and Jacen as they sat down.

Samy frowned. "There is so much pain in that girl," she said. Jacen was puzzled. "Who is Xander dancing with?"  
Jaina sighed. "Remember the girl Dana he told us about?" Jacen nodded. "That's her."

*

Later

The sun, shining in from the fake window into his cabin on the Enterprise, told him where he was. The mass of brown and yellow-red hair on his shoulder was new. Frowning Xander took a moment. Right, let's see, drinking, party, Mandaloorian girl named Dana, dancing, more drinking and Jaina and Dana becoming friends, bragging about his ship, showing off his ship and more drinking and singing old Earth songs with Dana, while Jaina was giggling.

They were sitting and talking on the bed. Dana fell asleep and then… He must have fallen asleep after Dana. Checking under the blanket he saw that he was still dressed up in his fine clothes. Dana was the same, fully dressed. Jaina had stripped down to her bikini. He loved that Golden Bikini of hers. Jaina said she found it in a store and that when Mom saw it, she started to giggle and laugh, but refused to say why, but it looked good on her.

*

Later

Dressed up partly in armor, with Xander and Jaina in their flexible armor and Dana in part of her Mandaloorian plated armor, they locked up the ship and walked separate ways. Jaina was having so much fun over the panic Xander had felt discovering that they were sleeping in the same bed, while Dana had actually been surprised that nobody had taken advantage of her.

*

In the Wookiee home, the morning of Life day

Xander and Jaina were carrying over the gifts and presents they would give each other, storing the gifts under a small decorated tree inside the building. Xander felt almost a Christmas like feeling. The breakfast was like always, with plenty of food, but this morning it was all salads and fruits, no chance to spoil the dinner appetite.

Sirrakuk, being the youngest Wookiee, was like on needles. So many gifts, she would get so many gifts. Lumpy always got boring, but useful gifts. Lowbacka, her brother, always gave her something exotic from some alien world. Han Solo, whom she had met before 3 years ago during Life Day celebration, was a master of useless, but extremely amusing gifts. Luke, now he was a question mark. His gifts were strange and would always become useful later. Like he knew and of course he knew. He was a Jedi.

Mahraccor grabbed his youngest child. "No, leave the gifts alone. After dinner," he reminded her.

Han snorted as he settled down near old Attichitcuk. "Well, Itchi, how has the year been?" he asked. The old timer, Chewie's father, was nearly 400 years old. "Good Han. With the Empire banished, our freedom has been good, but the weather is not kind on my old bones."

Han nodded. "I know all about that feeling," he said. Middle-aged Wookiee were about 300 years. Chewbacca was over 200. He himself was over fifty now. Humans, he knew, had an average lifespan to around 100 years, but it was not that uncommon to see 110 years old humans. On some worlds with a great environment and health care normal humans had a lifespan to around 200, but people who lived as much as he had, usually did not survive past the big double zero. Force sensitives were different. The average lifespan depended much on their strength in the Force. He remembered the old witch of Dathomir, she was over 400 years old, the oldest human he had ever seen, but the average was around 200 for a Force user. From what he had read and could see in Luke, Leia and Mara, they would be old. Their aging was slowing down already. Still, he was stronger, faster and more powerful than most men were half his age.

Luke said that he left a deep imprint in the Force. The kid never explained that to him. Xander said he was favored by the Force. He could live with that.

Leia sighed. "Mmm sitting and gossiping with Itchi," she said as she sat on his lap.

Han nodded. "Just relaxing, so when are we going out then?" he asked. Normal tradition said they would go out wishing the neighbors a good year in the local festival hall. The families and clans would meet each others.

It was strange the first time Chewbacca had pulled him in, that time he was just the human Chewbacca owned a life depth to, later Chewbacca had made him an honorary family member and it became less strange.

Still it was fun. Often, not always, you buy candy and something to drink, though no strong drinks, and sing songs and talk, then walk home. Chewie's family often started the walk home early.

"Yo. What's up?" Xander asked.

Itchi, Han and Leia all pointed at the roof.

"I meant what's next." Xander added.

They explained it to him. It sounded sweet. "Itchi, that's your nickname, right?" The wookiee nodded. Xander smiled.  
"Sounds fun, I feel like a part of the family here. Your Life day reminds me of Christmas." He started to tell the old tale of Christmas to the listening Wookiee and Solo's. Soon the others had joined him. With a crystal ball and the Force as a projector, the family watched his memory of great Earth movies with C-3P0 and M-TD as translators.

They watched –It's a wonderful life- and Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol and of course Star Trek the movie, some of the traditional Christmas movies.

When they arrived at the meeting hall it was unusual late, but everybody knew about the criminals plotting their death so nobody said anything.

Xander enjoyed it. All thanks to the Terentatek, he had found a perfect gift to give Durga the Hutt, including a recording of the size of the monster from his armor. He gave the Hutt a pair of gems and the gigantic fangs of the monster. One of the fangs he had a Wookiee help carve into a pipe as he knew that the Hutt smoked.

The holiday kept going in a relaxed and wonderful way until the end of Feed week.

End of Chapter 9

**37. 10-0**

Note: Uhhoo I think I need to send a few virtual cookies to Inachis again *g*

10-0

The Enterprise was on its way. It felt strange in the ship, as if the spirit of the ship had shifted somehow.

Lowbacka had left them. He had other places where he was need. Anakin had to go back with Luke for more training in being a Jedi knight.

Jaina was with him, Chloe was there and Riley was also with them. The guy had taken some lessons in piloting and gunnery. He was good in gunnery and could be a professional copilot. His skills in sensor and shields operations still needed some work though. Rona was also back. Basic training was easy. See a move, do the move. She had also mastered the other parts of the education or so they said. She was a trained Force Guardian and when asked where she wanted to go, which Jedi she wanted to work with, Rona had simply said: "As long as it's either Xander, Jaina or Lowbacka, I don't care." She was one of the first guardians to be posted together with a Jedi. Then there was Leia with her two Noghri bodyguards, Cakhmaim and Meewalh. Xander liked those two. They had a sense of humor that worked like an assassin. You never noticed the joke until it was too late. Making a funny joke behind somebody's back was common and a respected way of joking. Cakhmaim especially was the joker among the Noghri, if they had stand up comedians, he would be one.

So with just Jaina, Chloe, Rona, Leia and him, the Enterprise felt like something was missing and they were on a mission.

The Minos Cluster had left the Republic and joined up with the free sectors. Eliad, Adarlon. Yelsain and the Shesharile system wanted Jedi Watchmen. They asked for the two young Jedi that had helped them so much and in such a short time had become popular especially on Adarlon and Shesharile. Luke had listened to and heard their arguments. Then he came with counter arguments and had listened again, then agreed. The Minos cluster would get their Watchmen, but they had to remember that even as Watchmen, the two had duties outside the cluster.

Shesharile 5-6, he liked the twin planets, but first he let the controls free. "Take over, would you," he said as he walked out of the cockpit.  
Jaina nodded. "Yo, Riley in the seat, please." The former Earth soldier jumped in.

Xander walked up and knocked on the door.

Inside Leia was watching image after image of lightsaber hilts. He could see that she was paying special attention to the curved hilts.  
"It's so hard to choose," she complained.

Xander turned the computer off and put his hands over his mother in-laws eyes. "Now don't let your eyes deceive you, feel. How do you use it? What type of combat form do you like to use?" he asked. Removing his hands, he could see her eyes were still closed.

"Now, what form do you like to use?"

Leia answered, "Form 2 Makashi and Form 6 Niman. It's Form 3 Soresu that I really like. It gives me an advantage during long range attacks and it's good for defense."

Xander nodded. "Good, let's think about hilts. A long hilt you can use easier in a double handed grip. Its drawback is that you often lose a bit of control, because it's unbalanced unless you hold it in the center or use both hands. A short hilt is the opposite, it gives an advantage of control, but it's more difficult to use with both hands, when you'd gain extra strength," he said.

Leia nodded as he continued.

"Then there are the curved hilts. It sacrifices strength for precise movements. Great, if you use Form 2 Makashi, but some techniques become more difficult, such as parrying blaster bolts, because of the strange form of the hilt."

Leia nodded. "How curved is a curved lightsaber hilt?" she asked.

Xander smirked. "Oh boy, that's different. Some are hardly curved at all and others are so curved they end up looking almost like a pistol. In combat, you'd hold it like a pistol and get extra range during your attack, stabbing your enemy instead of cutting or slashing. The drawback is a loss of strength. Most, but not all, Makashi attacks are short and fast with precise moves being the key. Curved hilts give you a bonus in that."

Leia nodded. "It's still so hard to choose." she whined.

Xander grinned; she sounded so much like Jaina right now. "I know. Just think, are you specializing in form two Makashi." Leia said no. "Then the curved hilt is out, unless you feel it should be the one or is it your sense of fashion that is interfering?" Some of those curved hilts were impressive, like a work of art.  
Leia looked irritated, then nodded. It was the stylish grace of the hilts that attracted her.

Xander nodded. "Form five, Shien Djem So. The style your brother is and your father was an expert in. Users of that form of combat favor a solid hilt with ridged thick hand grips, as the Form 5 demand hard attacks and a firm grip on the hilt."

He smiled. "Your old lightsaber is much like the one Luke uses. Form 1 uses two handed grips and they favor long and often thinner hilts, as the hilt is between the fingers on the bottom hand." He demonstrated.

Leia nodded and understood why.

Xander continued. "It gives them a good balance between speed, control and strength. Form 1 is a strong and fast form." He then explained further. "Soresu form 3 demands speed and maneuverability over strength or control. You often hold the blade and hilt close to the body, which makes it easier to create the circle of defense. A one handed hilt is standard. So the hilts are short and have an average thickness. The hilt often has leather or grip-plats tied around the hilt to improve the grip," he said. "Then Ataru form 4. It's an acrobatic form and two handed grips are often used, but one handed is more common. The Jedi have to move fast, jump, run and spin using the Force. Yoda was apparently a master in this. The hilt is lean, not ridged or with too thick hand grips. Often leather or grip-plastic are tied around the handle. The size can be short or long, one handed is common, just lean and soft, to improve the speed of changing your grip on it during combat."  
Leia nodded. "That's the one that Jacen likes." she said. Xander nodded. "I use some Ataru moves myself, but it's not my favorite. Last Niman, that form favors no special type of hilt."

Leia nodded. "Thanks. I have to meditate on that." If only Luke had been that precise in clearing up the different types of hilts. She could use a curved hilt. No, if she was honest, she favored Soresu form 3, the defense form. After that it was Niman form 6 and form 2 was if she was going for the kill.  
So Niman favored no hilt over the other, but Soresu did, a shorter hilt with leather tied around it for improved grip. That sounded right. Grip-plastic would be better, but it looked ugly.

She started to meditate, trying to see herself in combat using different types of lightsabers in different sizes and with different hilts.

*

Next day

The Enterprise had landed. It was a strange place.

"Where are we?" Leia asked.

Xander shrugged. "This is the ass end of space. We asked the locals on Yelsain for a place to do some Jedi meditation and training, a place where nobody would disturb us and we couldn't hurt anyone."

He waved his hands around. "This is it, a rocky island in nowhere, grass, birds and fish in the sea that is it. We're going to help you build the different parts of the lightsaber and then once that is done, it's up to you to assemble it," he said.

He had arranged for a cargo container to be put on the island. He carried whatever Leia would need during her isolation inside.

Leia nodded. "Right, what are you going to help me with? Luke let me do all of the things myself last time." she said.

Xander was surprised. "Did he really? Did he let you shape the form of the hilt or the superconductive cables?"

Leia blinked. "Um no. He had those pre-made. I just assembled them myself, but I had to find the correct part from a box of parts and imbue it with the Force."

Xander nodded. "That's one way to do it, if you have plenty of pre-made parts. No, we are going to use the repair shop on the Enterprise to make you a hilt from scratch. What you are unable to do, we are going to help you with."

Leia nodded. "I have been around repair shops before," she said. Being married to Han Solo, flying around in that ship, she had to be good at repairs. They started to work.

Xander carefully reminded her that once she started to build the lightsaber, she could not eat or drink that much. Only one hour of sleep each day and she would have to survive on nourishment drinks or bread and water. She better will take the time to rest and eat in advance.

It was a difficult ritual to do. It could last a full month or only a pair of weeks or even just days, depending on the skill and strength of the Jedi. If the Jedi became too tired or weak, he could break of the ritual and continue later, but that was not recommended, as it was more likely to create a blade that would fail them then.  
Leia nodded, she knew. Her son in law could be such a mother sometimes.

The work was done fast, yet with extreme precision. Leia gave the orders while Jaina and Xander did much of the work. It wasn't that Leia herself wasn't skilled in the art of repairs, but the two teens were truly artist.

It would be an elegant weapon with a small, but not a tiny, hilt.

She was not the only one to be making a lightsaber, so was Xander. He was rebuilding his own pair. Carefully removing the two Adegan crystals from his lightsaber and then the Opila in his lightdagger, he had to make more room inside the lightsaber. That was not that hard to do. Once it was done, he put the crystals back inside, the green Adegan crystal, the yellow Opila gem and a green Terentatek gem.

He was nervous as he held the blade. It felt more connected to him now. More precise, like it was part of him, part of the Force itself. Then he activated it and a green extremely focused blade was seen.

It worked. He flipped the size control. With two gems he could make the blade grow longer. With three gems he could make it grow shorter also. The lightsaber blade shrank down from 100 cm to the size of a dagger with a 30 cm blade. Xander flipped the size control and it returned to 100 cm and then grew to the size of 200 cm. Not really all that practical to fight with, but it had been the fact that he had a long blade that gave him the reach he needed to pierce the brain of the Terentatek.

Now he knew what the gems of the Terentatek did. It helped the Jedi to connect with his or her Lightsaber. That would make it easier to use the blade and the Force at the same time.

The lightdagger hilt was too short though. He'd have to make a new one. The moment Leia was in isolation to create her hilt, so was he. His advantage was that it was only the casting that was changed. Most of the dagger's inside remained unchanged. He chose the yellow Terentatek gem and the softer green Adegan crystal as he rebuilt his lightdagger. It worked. The blade was yellow-green and he could switch between a 30 cm and a 100 cm long blade. Perfect. In less than four days had he had rebuilt both of his blades.

Jaina and Leia were still inside, rebuilding theirs.

Xander took the opportunity to reacquaint himself with the new blades. Chloe, Rona and Riley were glad to help him. Using two lightsabers in combat was a bit different from using a dagger and a sword. He learned the tactic fast, but he still preferred to use the dagger sword combination.

He had removed the connection between the two lightsabers. He could no longer use it like a double-bladed lightblade. He felt he had outgrown that method of fighting. From now on, he would do two bladed fighting. Dagger-saber, dagger-dagger and Saber-saber and he also trained in using the long-bladed lightsaber. He really found only one real use for that, when riding the swoop to make ride by attacks more safe.

Cakhmaim and Meewalh, Leia's Noghri bodyguards, seemed to like having Leia locked away in a safe place. Cakhmaim said that he had to learn from Xander's method of locking the student away in a safe box. He was sure it could be used to keep the target safe. Xander was confused before he smiled, but Meewalh was shaking in laughter and could not stand up.

He realized Cakhmaim's Noghri humor was strange, but other Noghri liked it. Days after that Meewalh would still start to giggle if you said lock away or safe-box.  
It was a sneaky strange ambush type of humor.

Both of them helped him understand the advantage a dagger combination had, especially in tiny tight areas, but it was the lightsaber-lightdagger combination he really liked. It was him.

Then Jaina was done with her blade. It only took her five days to rebuild her lightsaber. It looked much the same as before, a bit longer maybe, but not by much. She, like him, had given the lightsaber the ability to turn into a lightdagger. She had found using a lightsaber in tight areas clumsy because it was too long.

Two weeks later Leia was done and they could finally leave the deserted place.

*

**38. 10-1**

Note: wow it that time again...so I just do it. THANK YOU Inachis

10-1

Days Later on Shesharile 5

Han Solo had picked up his wife. Both Luke and Xander agreed that there wasn't much more he could teach her. She would need self training and a more experienced teacher for any more improvement. Even so, Luke was happy with his sister's improvement in lightsaber combat. It had sky rocketed, as had her focus and ability to sense the Force. He had always felt that her awe of him had held her back.

Leia was finally becoming the Jedi she was born to be.

*  
Xander Harris Solo and Jaina Organa Solo Watchmen of the Minos Cluster.

It sounded impressive and it was, but it was also hard work.

The people of Shesharile gave the Jedi Order a building with a training area and landing space for starships. It also had around fifty sleeping rooms and a swimming pool. It had been the house of a rich Imperial officer once. Now it was the Jedi Order's house at Shesharile, the home of the Jedi Watchmen.

It was hard work, helping them solve problems and mediate diplomatic disputes between the planets in the cluster. Sometimes they were called on to work as judge and jury. Old Shesharile laws said that a criminal could call on the mercy of a Jedi Knight. The Jedi alone would listen and judge the criminal and with the wisdom of the Force, decree a fair punishment.

Jaina and Xander had to be fair, but not too soft, or all criminals would scream for Jedi judgments and last weddings. The Jedi, like a ship's captain or a priest, could marry a pair. On the worlds of the Minos cluster millions of young people wanted Jaina or Xander to be the priest in their wedding. Some important people and some friends were given the honor. They were paid for the extra service as priest.

Luke had sent them another Jedi to help. He was a Bith, a complete pacifist who spend most of his time talking to the Quockrans on Quockra-4, as he had a Bith genetic disorder that made him biologically unable to willingly hurt another sentient being. Even among the Bith he was extremely peaceful.

*

Four wonderful months went by.

Xander had felt twitchy the whole day, when Admiral Amos of the Shesharile Navy Defense stormed in.  
The Republic had declared war on the Minos cluster and all forces not loyal to them. Right now a fleet had assembled and was attacking the Correlian sector. Jedi Master Luke Skywalker had send messages to all Jedi Knights to prepare for combat and those that could to join the Correlian forces in defense of the Correlian sector.

The Admiral put down the paper. "That's was it says, Master Harris Solo." he said.

Xander hang his head. "R3, ready the Enterprise, we are leaving in the morning. Admiral, while it's always nice to see you come by, this is one time I wish that you had not done so," he said.

The Admiral grinned. "I understand your feelings, Master Harris. Alexander." The Jedi and he had a strange relationship. He was fascinated by and yet scared by the powers they had. Being the Admiral of a planetary defense force, the two young Watchmen often talked to him.

"Who is going to be the Watchman when you are away?" he asked.

Xander looked at the man. Amos was a man that moved constantly, like a hungry tiger. He either stood perfectly still, like a tiger waiting to jump his prey, or walked so fast it looked like he was storming forward like a hungry tiger on the hunt.

Biije, the Bith walked in. "I overheard and I will use my skill to help keep others calm and take over the weight as a Watchman, but I have to warn you, I suffer from a genetic Bith defect that affects my brain. It makes it impossible for me to hurt another sentient being. I will rather die myself than take the risk of hurting another," he said. Not that other Bith were aggressive either, no they were a friendly and peaceful race. Most were pacifists and friendly, but his disorder made it a whole other level of pacifism. He made a normal Bith look aggressive.

The admiral did not like that, but if it was a defect, poor big head. "I will see that they know about that, Knight Biije."

Riley smiled, as a Force Ranger he worked with the gang, keeping the Bith safe. "Don't worry Admiral. I'm keeping Biijejque safe." He never managed to say the Bith name correctly. There was this Jeuq sound humans just could not do. Most gave up and called him Biije. He was still trying, to Biije's amusement.  
Biije nodded. "Impressive, you almost got it." He really should tell the human that the part of his name between the I and J was in an ultra sonic frequency humans could neither hear nor produce.

Amos ignored them. "Good, I wish both of you good luck." Chloe waved her hand pointing at her and Rona. "I wish the four of you good luck," much better.  
As he left, he was storming away like a hungry tiger as usual. Silence fell in the house. War. The republic was much more powerful than any single group the Jedi were allied to.

*

Next day in space

Rona smelled at the tomatoes. "They look ready now." she mused, amused over the tomatoes that Xander grew in the ship and in a small garden at home. Her hand twitched, she could steal one.

Chloe shook her head. "Don't even think about it. He counts each of them." She knew Xander was trying to make Ketchup and sometimes he gave out a tomato to eat as a reward to those that liked them. Like Rona.

Rona sulked as she sat down inside the love seat made from the jaws of a monster Xander had killed, looking at the tomatoes that grew around the galley room's side. They looked so yummy.

Chloe smiled at the other girl. "Why don't you ask him for some seed and grow tomatoes yourself?"

Rona shrugged. "More fun stealing them." she explained. Soon Xander would be asleep and master thief Rona the Black Cat would sneak in and steal the master ruby called the tomato, she giggled.

Chloe snorted. "Uhuh, if you say so."

Jaina came in from the cockpit. "We are on our way. It's nine hours for the Enterprise to the gathering point. It would be best if we got some rest before that," she said.

*

War. They would be fighting humans, Jaina thought to herself, taking the chance to check up her X-Wing. Updated and improved with a class 11 engine which had 110 mglt in speed and a SLAM overdrive, with it active, her speed rocked up to 600 mglt for 40 seconds. Then the SLAM would turn off and it would take two minutes for it to be recharged. Type 7 maneuverability improved from the old type 4. During SLAM the maneuverability was only type 1 though.  
It was one of a kind. She had less room for proton torpedoes as she had improved the cannons and installed the SLAM, improved shields and armor. She petted the X-Wing. "Don't worry Starsaber. I'm not going to let anything happen to you or the Enterprise," she said before leaving the hanger.

*

In the cockpit Xander brooded. If Angel saw him now he would have had fun, brood boy no 2.

War, he knew it would happen. He knew he would have to fight and all he wanted to do was run away. Run fast and hide somewhere. It was madness. The Republic was dying, but those that ruled it refused to let it die alone.

He pushed in a datastick and music started to play in the cockpit, Earth music. Durga had given him a gift. When the other Hutt used the machine to steal things from Earth, many things he considered garbage had also arrived. He dumped it and Durga found out where. Among that were CD's with music that Durga had saved and gave him. 16 000 hours of music, story books and more, even DVD's, anything recorded on disks was in that data stick.

Setting the player on random, he settled down and relaxed as the Ghostbusters theme song played in the background. He wondered how difficult it would be to fight a war.

*

Nine hours later

They had arrived at the gathering point.

Jedi, Force Guardians, Jensaarai and Imperial Knights, they were all here, following the call of war. It was time to defend those they served and to help their allies. The second galactic civil war had started.

The Jedi Masters were called to a meeting.

*

Later in the Enterprise

Jaina was nervous. "So what is happening?" she asked, eager to know.

Xander replied, "We are being posted to a war group. The Republic has occupied a world in the Correlian Sector. Our job is to go through the blockade, land an army of soldiers and then remove the Republic army without causing too much damage to civilians."

Chloe thought about it. "So space battle and then ground combat?" she asked.

Xander nodded. "Exactly, they have a blockade made mostly out of frigates, cruisers and hanger carriers. Bombing the planet is out of the question; both sides want the industrial Centrum to be taken intact. Currently the locals are holding it and the city was protected by a shield."

Jaina nodded. "So its fight the enemy in a city landscape with civilians around." Xander nodded. At least she would have a chance to fly her Starsaber, the XJ-Wing.  
"Besides that, we have two more pilots that volunteered to fly our defenders and a co-pilot to help me in the cockpit when you use the Starsaber," he said with a grin. "Deak and Dean are our fighter pilots and I'm not sure if you know our copilot," he said with a wondering tone, as Anakin, Jaina's brother, walked in.

Chloe and Jaina squealed out "ANAKIN" and attacked him with a hug.

Two guys followed him in, a pair of Devaronians, who called themselves Deak and Dean. It was short for Deakhor'amirate and Deanij'arishiba, which humans had a hard time pronouncing anyway.

Chloe said in a surprise tone, "Their names are Deak and Dean?" The two gave her a predatory smile. The red skins and horns on their heads looked intimidating.  
Deak shook his head. "No, my real name is Deakhor'amirate. But it sounds better if you just call me Deak, less humans end up insulting my name then," he said knowing that he looked dangerous. Sadly the girl was not intimidated.

Dean, being more relaxed, spoke up. "So, where are the Defenders we are supposed to fly?" He really liked the small escort defense fighter. Only 5.3 m long and 4 m width at the rear end 2 m in the front with a height of 2 m, it was almost a box shaped craft, an ugly fighter that even small transports could carry.

The revolutionary idea of transforming transports into pocket carriers had given the Defender star fighter a completely new life. They went from something obscure to a craft that were sold in bulk. Every cargo carrying ship wanted one if they could and those that piloted the small craft were a breed by themselves. Extreme maneuvers, with a hull as strong as a TIE fighter and shields, it could take a beating and keep on kicking.

Xander showed them the craft. "We improved the speed by removing one of the cannons. You have less fire power, but greater speed. It's a Class 11 right now, 110 mglt cruising speed and 440 mglt when going all out. My ship is also capable of moving at those speeds, so you need it to keep up."

Standard Defender tactic was stay near the transport ship. Let the enemy come to you. The real starfighters like the X-Wings or the TIE fighters moved away from the mother ship.

They nodded as they crawled inside the tiny pilot cockpit and looked at the controls. Both felt they were at home in the cramped area of a suicide machine.  
Seeing them playing around, Xander left them to it, leaving R3 behind to guard them.

Jedi Master Luke –Still evil- Skywalker had politely asked (demanded/forced/emotional blackmailed) him to take on another student or the poor student would have nobody to learn from.

*

In the meeting room

He felt worried. Jacen sat there looking amused and with a smudge look on his face. He was up to something. Inside he saw Luke, almost hiding behind Mara Jade. That was always a bad sign.

"Good day Master Skywalker. How can I serve the will of the Council?" he said in a formal greeting. Not that he actually cared that much about formal greetings. It would help to spook Luke even more though and it worked.

Jedi Master Luke Skywalker actually stuttered. "G,G, Greetings Master Alexander Harris Solo. The will of the Council is that you take on students," he said, following the pattern of the ancient greeting, which most of the living had forgotten.

Luke eyes were twitching in a direction inside the room.

Xander thought it was time to go normal to keep him twitching. Whatever it was that had him scared was enough. "So, Uncle Luke, can I see my new student then?"  
He felt the smile from Jacen behind him before he could see the movement. Something red and soft that moved with surprising speed collided with him.

"He is cute!" said a red skinned and red haired female Zeltron that was hugging him.

Xander snorted. "And married." he said in a dry tone of voice. The female Zeltron was obvious not aware of his irony, as she purred in his ear before licking it. "I don't mind, I'm bisexual."

She continued. "I hope your wife is cute too," she said as she tried to get a test feel on his personal Jedi weapon. He was so yummy and the Force was singing around him.

Luke sighed, he was safe.

Mara sighed. "Men, what my brave husband should be telling you is that this is Danni. She is 19 and quite a powerful Force sensitive. She is trained in Zeltron Force traditions, mostly about healing and personal things."

Danni whispered in his ears. "And sex. The Force is life, it brings pleasure and joy." She finally found his personal Jedi weapon. It's felt big and nice in her hands.  
Xander blushed. She was feeling him up. No way. Absolutely no way that he would look like Jacen when he met Samy. "Right, I'm nebi Master something. Jedi, Jedi not Nebi Xander." He said pulling the female Zeltron's hand away from his pants. "Xander, right I'm Xander, you Danni. Find Jaina, need help." He rushed away.  
Danni stood forgotten in the room. "He is shy, that is so cute," she said.

Samy nodded. "All Jedi are shy, it's so cute," she said, beaming a smile at her older half sister or something. Danni was the daughter of her father's second wife and husband. Not Samy's birth mother and biological father.

*

A short moment later

A stressed up Xander walked in, almost carrying Jaina. "I got an apprentice, help me," he said.

"Ooo she is cute." Danni said as she hugged a spaced out Jaina. "Can I keep her?" Jaina blushed. "NO, I'm married."

Danni nodded. "Is he cute?"

"She is MY wife." Xander said.

Danni grinned. "You both are cute."

Jacen fell over laughing. Danni knew by holo-photo exactly who Xander and Jaina was. Samy and she had talked about them at his home. He had no idea if he was lucky or unlucky that Samy and Danni considered themselves to be sisters and they felt incest was wrong. One of the rare numbers of taboos that existed on Zeltron, even as far as he could understand no blood relation existed.

Xander was floundering. "She is MY wife!" he defended Jaina.

Danni giggled. "I know. Jedi Master Skywalker, they are cute, I accept both of them as mine. Do you agree?"

Luke was conflicted. If he said yes would she leave? Zeltron's made him afraid. "I agree." he said, hoping this younger Danni would leave him alone. Last time he had a Zeltron named Danni following him around, it ended badly.

Mara slapped her face. That was not a Master student acceptance ritual, that was the short, short Zeltron marriage ritual. Holding herself from laughing was hard right now, but she was an expert and she was turning green form the pain of not laughing.

Danni turned to Jaina and Xander. "Do you accept me as yours?" she said, grouping both of them.

Jaina wasn't exactly on the top of her game. "What? Stop that. Yes of course, student." she growled out. She was afraid something about what that girl said was off.

Xander muttered: "Um, I yeah…" How did that girl manage to touch more places at the same time with her two arms then a 10 arms squid was beyond him. He was confused.

His danger sense was giggling?

Danni hugged both of them. This would be so great. A Jedi in legend was the greatest husbands you could get. The only down side was they demanded fatefulness.  
Samy screamed in joy. "Jay congratulation. May the Force be with you," she was so happy. She was sure that in time they would accepted each other.  
Luke was confused. "Congratulation about what?"

Mara smirked. "Good going farm boy, you just married your niece and her husband to that Zeltron using the old short marriage ritual."

Jaina and Xander snapped to attention. "HE DID WHAT?" Two lightsabers were activated in an instant. "Get back here you stupid excuse of a Jedi Master!" Xander cried as he attacked the fleeing form of the great Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.

Jaina was right on his heels. "I'll help you hide his body," she growled.

Mara looked thoughtfully. "Do you think I should worry?" she said, looking at Jacen.

He shrugged. "Just remind Jaina and Xander that Luke has to explain to Han and Leia about his little mistake."

Mara nodded. "I don't know which Luke fears most." She walked out to save her husband. By now she was shaking with barely held in laughter.

**39. 10-2**

NOTE: There we are again with a new part which is again much better to read than the old posts on Xanderzone thanks to the hardwork of Inachis.

10-2

Finally they could enter space again.

A fleet of ships awaited them. Most were corvettes and frigates like the Nebulous-B, but there was also one of the new Knight-class dreadnaughts. 600 meters long, with a class 6 engine, a thick hull that could hold up even against a Star Destroyer, the energy-shield the ship boasted was of the same class as in the old Victory Star Destroyer. It was a monster in space. Its only weakness was that they limited the number of heavy turbolaser cannons. It only had six heavy turbolaser batteries, eight regular turbolaser batteries and twenty-four light quad turbolaser batteries, but it did have the new super heavy turbolaser cannon, two in fact, mounted on the front. Each with the fire power of eight normal cannons, the slow speed of recharge and the size made the super heavy turbolaser cannon less than popular.

It carried only one squadron of fighters that were much like the X-Wings or E-Wings. Normally they used Defenders as they could squeeze in double as many fighters that way. The Knight-class dreadnaught was still able to go head to head against a Star Destroyer with a good chance of victory.

Xander was impressed with the ship. It was a good design. Jaina nodded. "One question, I noticed that you have light turbolasers as anti-starfighter defense. Aren't they a bit slow?" she said.

The captain nodded. "Yes. The Knight-class is vulnerable to starfighter attacks, especially if they're using missiles under the shields," he said. "Combine that with the lack of good starfighter hangers and you get a real Achilles' heel. The engineers created this as a dedicated capital ship killer. The Knight-class is supposed to fight ships from 200 meters upwards all the way to 900 meters and be victorious or at least survive. Our arms are big and powerful and our skin is tough, but we're clumsy as hell."

Xander nodded. "That's good to know. I hope you put lot of defenses around you, Captain Welar."

Seren Welar agreed. "We have defenders. Let me show you the battle plan so far. They have two Mon-calamari MC 40 Cruisers in orbit, both 500 meters. One Golan space defense station, although the Golan might be operational or it might be destroyed. We don't know yet."

He pushed a button. "That is the Mc 40 they are using. Both are old and the Republic managed to keep the Mon Calamari from getting them back. They use a pair of KDY Gunships 105 along as anti-starfighter support and the fighters are I-7 Howlrunners and A-9."

Xander nodded, FreeTech had joined the rebels against the New Republic. With them came the latest designs in A-Wings and X-Wings, the T-65XJ or XJ-Wing, but that would not stop the Republic for long. They were already creating the T-65XK XK-Wing.

It was important for both sides to have a good X-Wing at their disposal. The ship had become a symbol of freedom fighting and the New Republic wanted to look like the good guys, but they had abandoned the A-Wing mark 2 and started to use the A-9 Vigilance interceptor.

The A-9 had more powerful cannons than the A-Wing, two class seven laser cannons. They were equal in speed with class 12 engines, but with greater maneuverability than the A-Wing. The A-9 had type 5 maneuverability. The A-Wing had type 4.2 maneuverability and two class five laser cannons. The A-Wing on the other hand had better, class three, armor and type 1 military shields while the A-9 had Class 2 armor. Still, the A-Wing could enter hyperspace by itself. In battle the A-Wing M2 and the A-9 were equal: what one lacked, it made up in some other way.

In a fight with an XJ-Wing against an A-9, it was the XJ all the way. The XJ had better armor and shields, but a bit less maneuverability.  
Xander nodded. "Do you know how many squadrons they have?" (One squadron = 12 fighters.)

Seren Welar nodded. "Yes, three squadrons of I-7 Howlers and four squadrons of A-9 for ground and space defense and attack," he said. "We on the other hand have four XJ-Wing squadrons, two A-Wing squadrons and also two squadrons of Defenders," he explained.

As for the big ships, they had the Knight-class, five MC-10 corvettes and two Nebulos-B2 frigates against three Golan's and two MC-402 KDY Gunships.  
Jaina frowned. "That's nothing. What's the catch?"

Seren snorted. "The catch is that they also have a field of space mines. As we shoot at them, they and the mines are going to shoot at us."

Xander nodded. "That could even things out. Anti-starfighter and anti-capital ship mines I guess."

The captain nodded. Space mines were small, which made them hard to spot. They were armed with powerful turbolasers or a missile system combined with an advanced ship recognition page.

The space-mines would fire against any ship not accepted by home defense and your own fighters could fly undisturbed right among them. Once they had fired, it was possible to pin point their location and shoot back, but a mine field normally held many thousands or more mines.

Xander and Jaina looked at each other and then nodded. "We might be able to scout the area, using our Jedi skills. We go in and out fast, so that they never notice us." With the help of Force cloak and the stolen cloak device, it would be no problem.

*

At the same time on the ship

Chloe and Rona were sitting and watching the newest member of the crew with suspicion.

Danni ignored them. She knew that they were suspicious. Any empath would, but once they gathered their minds, they would ask the question.  
Chloe frowned. "Why? Why are you messing up their marriage? And why keep pestering them?" she asked.

Danni smiled. That was a good question. "Why? Because I care about them, both of them are too much Jedi to understand about love and joy unless they have help."  
Chloe and Rona were confused. "What are you talking about?" they asked.

Danni shrugged. "They need help, too much of the old dusty path of keeping emotion hidden remains. It's not good to hide your emotions away. It only weakens your connection to the Light and if that happens, the Dark side can more easily take you over."

Rona raised an eyebrow. "You're shitting me," she said.

Danni blinked. "No. The Force is more than just Dark and Light. The Light is the power of creation. The Dark is cancer, the destruction of life. Both sides are connected and part of the Force itself, but they are not good or evil as such. Living beings are good or evil. The Jedi seem to forget that. They see the light as good and the Dark as evil. They are so desperate to keep away from Dark emotions and all that leads to the Dark side and to evil, that they hide the feelings of life they have, love, passion, even joy, from themselves." She smiled. "That's why the Light side is so difficult to understand, most Jedi only use part of the Light and that's why the Dark side seems so alluring to them. They have forgotten that joy filled emotions are a part of the Light side. Then comes a moment of anger and the Dark side offers them a chance of feeling again. Dark emotions yes, but still, they are living beings and as such they need emotions."

Rona hummed. "Uh. So you consider the Dark side only to be destruction, not evil. Not much difference in my book." she said. Evil was destruction and death, according to her.

Danni shook her head. "Perhaps not, the Dark side is something awful that all Zeltron's avoid, even if we are a race of passion. There has been no real Dark side Zeltron in history. Well one, but she changed her ways in time."

Chloe was confused. "That still doesn't explain why you're after Xander and Jaina," she said with irritation.

Danni blinked. "But sure it does. They are Jedi. They make my emotion burn with pleasure. Every time they feel joy it's like a volcano of pleasure I feel echoed inside because of my empath connection," she said, shivering at the pleasure she would have them all feel in the future.

"That is why young Zeltron's get all clingy and exited the first time they are around a Jedi. They feel so yummy in the Force." Especially the Skywalkers and Harris for some reason, from both it felt like the Force itself has touched them deeply. She could not understand or care why.

Rona hung her head. They had a crazy red skinned and red haired female around. "What about Jaina? Do you think she enjoys it, if you keep on humping her husband?"

Danni smiled. "That's why I'm going after her first," she said grinning.

*

Later

The short trip into the enemy mine field was informative. It was big and filled with some anti-capital starship mines and standard space mines. The enemy had also rigged fifteen old junked starships as missile platforms. That was sneaky.

Decloaked they sat silently in a dark corner of space, using silent running before cloaking and flying to the next listening post. While cloaked, only the CGT sensor or the Force could see and detect anything outside or inside the cloak. The cloak was a double blind system. Nobody could see them, but they could see nobody.  
Jaina frowned as more sensor information kept popping up on the sensor screen. "What the? Have you installed a new sensor system?" she asked. They were going silent on the active sensors.

Xander shook his head. "No, just passive. That's lot of information, almost what 3 ships might be able to gather using passive sensors." This was confusing. "Anakin, did you..?" Xander asked Anakin.

He was currently using the radio communication equipment to listen in on what the enemies were saying. Somehow his equipment worked better now. "No, nothing. I installed a new holo theater in the galley. It has a more effective holo-equipment," he explained. If they were going to war, they needed a good holo theater to show detailed tactical pictures on and to see movies on a real big screen was more fun. "I also got it for free. I just had to repair it," he said.

Xander shrugged. "So, he's still in the holo movie dream world. So what happened to the sensors?" he wondered and boy was he tired of the old action holo movies they had. Jaina and Jacen loved action movies. They were much like Earth Kung-fu movies that showed off the Nunchaku as an invincible weapon. In the Star Wars version it was the Lanvarok, with powerfull fighters using an old Sith Lanvarok and beating enemies who were using modern weapons or lightsabers vs the evil Lanvarok user. He hadn't found any movies that he really liked yet or perhaps it was just those Lanvaroks that pissed him of.

The cockpit door opened as Danni walked in. "Hi. I linked up the XJ-Wing and the two Defenders to your ships computer system. That way you should get more detailed information on the sensors. Right?" she said.

Jaina and Xander looked at each other. "Um, that's not possible, right?" she said and Xander nodded. "The hull is too thick and besides, we would need an interface to read anything."

Danni nodded. "I asked R3 and R6 to work as interfaces. I pumped out the air in the hanger and cargo bay and opened the doors, so no interference for the fighter's passive sensors. Deak and Dean are working as interface in the Defender."

Xander blinked. "Um... Could that actually work?" he wondered. Jaina stammered: "I. It must. You are good," she said to the Zeltron that had invaded their home and kept trying to invade their bedroom. So far they had managed to keep her out, but the blasted empath was slowly softening them up to the idea of a threesome, and sooner or later she would find her lock picks again.

Xander swallowed. This would take courage. "Danni, I know you tricked us into marrying you and according to Zeltron tradition, it is a real marriage, but none of us feel that it is real. Is there any way to have it undone?" he asked.

Danni nodded happily as she leaned over the closest chair and accidently started to massage Jaina's neck. "O yes there is. All the two of you have to do is resist my temptations for half a year and the marriage is no more or if all of us clearly state with a priest or a Jedi Master as our witness that our marriage was a mistake." she explained.

Jaina shivered. Half a year? That was so long. "Stop doing that, I can't concentrate," she said, pushing Danni's hand away from her neck.

Danni smiled as she settled down by the sensor control, helping them sort out the information. O yes, they would be hers, both of them. She would show them the power of joy, the strength of pleasure, and nothing would stop her. –Insert evil laughter- But she wasn't yet sure if she wanted to keep them. Part of the fun was the hunt. Being married meant being faithful, something that was fine and good, if the people you were married to were interesting enough. She frowned. Did she know any good Zeltron, in the age from 14 to 16? Anakin did look all lonely, she was sure he could use some red hot love. She wasn't sure if Xander and Jaina would be that interesting, attractive yes, but would they make her as happy as she would make them?

*

About the same time in a different place

Luke squealed out "Oomph" as he was pushed against the wall by the hands of Han Solo.

"Right, explain it to me again, Kid," Han said to the mighty Jedi Master. He turned and looked at Kyle Katarn. "Back of special forces guy," he said in an `I can and will hurt you` type of voice.

Kyle, the Special Forces turned Jedi master, turned around and walked away. There are things you do not mess with. Rancor's and angry Han Solo's were apparently  
on the top 5 list of such things.

Luke tried to melt into the wall. "Let's calm down. Please, I have a good explanation." he stuttered out. "She was a Zeltron."

Han growled. "I'm so going to hurt you. Nobody messes with my kids," he said. Then Luke began screaming.  
Outside

"You should have seen the terror on Luke's face. He was scared silly of those Zeltron's," she said giggeling to Leia while drinking some coffee.

Leia nodded and said, "I can understand his fear. They are a bit difficult to say no to."

Mara snorted. "Prude, you are such a prude."

Leia sniffed. "I am not. I'm trained in diplomacy and worked with Zeltron's before," she said.

"So how was it?" Mara asked and could see Leia blush. "You enjoyed it, admit it."

Leia nodded. "I had four male body guards. They were nice," she said, blushing.

Mara giggled. "And you see. They aren't following you around. That's the secret. Once you give them a taste, they go away. Give them some loving and they leave you alone. If you tell them to go away, being all prudish and Jedi just attracts them," she grinned.

Leia nodded. "I hope Jaina and Xander figure that out, before it is too late." she said. If it went on for too long, instead of a short hot passion it could turn into a fanatic Zeltron stalker.

Mara shrugged. "They're nice kids. I'm sure they figure it out. Besides, if they are smart, why not just accepted Danni?" She waved her hand to Leia. "Don't go, what about Jaina? I trained your daughter. She denies it, but she is attracted to both sexes," she said with a smile.

Leia was about to protest. "Perhaps, but if she is bi-sexual, why should she try to deny it? It's perfectly natural," she said.

Mara watched like she was stupid. "Alderaan, old Alderaan tradition does not accept cross gender relationships," she said to Leia.

Leia looked honestly confused. "But that was generations before I was born. Why would that? Winter…" she said in irritation. Her old childhood friend that helped them so much and in many ways was more of a mother to Jaina and Jacen than she had been or could be.

Mara nodded. "Exactly: Winter, she is a prude. Old fashioned, just like Luke," she said sadly.

Leia nodded. "I cannot be angry at Winter, she suffered too much in her life."

Winter's perfect holografical and audiografical memory made her remember everything she had felt and seen in her life, even emotions, with perfect recall. She had to relive the destruction of Alderaan every day, like it happened that day, in perfect memory. Each moment of her life was constantly saved and equally strong. Not many humans with holografical memory survived as long as Winter had done. Most became crazy or killed themselves. Her inability to even have children by herself was another pain Winter had to suffer. Leia and Winter had grown up together, side by side on Alderaan, like sisters.

More than once Leia had felt that the perfect Winter should have been the princess, not the wild haired tomboy that she was, but Winter was her friend and like a sister to her. The times Winter spent as spy during the first Rebellion and her time in the New Republic Special Forces and Intelligence had made her a guarded person and she was now wanted dead by the Republic, as well as wanted by the enemies of the Republic for the information she held secret in her memory.  
She knew too much and was loyal to the wrong people. Only Luke and the Jedi order stood between Winter and a sure death, but Winter was old fashioned in some areas, specially sexuality. Heterosexuality was acceptable, but nothing other than that.

Mara nodded, she had read the file on Winter. "I heard she and Thycho were researching alternate ways of helping her to forget too painful memories or too dangerous secrets."

Leia shook her head. "No, it was after she found out about her inability to have children. She used some drug that created amnesia to forget and got hooked on it. She is free from that now, we hope. They are seeking an effective sleeping medicine that can help her keep the nightmares away."

She hoped. Her family and Thycho was a life line for Winter. The years of war, terror, death, torture and also the drugs she had experimented with were catching up to Winter now.

Mara nodded. "I see. I wasn't sure what it was they were doing."

**40. 10-3**

Notes: Here is the next part thanx to Inachis.

10-3

Later

The sensor information of the solar system was good. Not perfect, but good none the less, and the attack could begin. With the Knight class leading the attack, the small fleet jumped into the system. Fire raged as they cleaned out as many of the missiles as possible.

Xander, with Anakin beside him as co-pilot, Danni as sensor ops, and Chloe and Rona as gunners, was moving in at full speed. Dean in one of the defenders, using D1 as his call sign, was following close, covering his rear. Jaina was flying beside Deak as his wing-man. His call sign was D2 while Jaina was Star-Saber. Her improved XJ-Wing had the picture off a swinging lightsaber on the ship's body.

A-9 and I-7 Howlrunners rained down on them from the enemy base. The space-mines fired from everywhere, but they had good sensor data on where the mines would be, so Xander pushed the stick hard, rolling the ship as a pair of A-9s passed over, firing their guns. This was a real fight.

"Get ready Ani, mines coming up. D1."

Star-Saber (Jaina) piped in. "Break the lucky-bones, I grabbed the mines," she said, telling them to attack the A-9 while she took care of the space mines.  
Xander nodded to himself. "Top takes lucky-bones. Bottom, follow top for leftovers," he said to Chloe and Rona, who where in top and bottom-gunner position.  
Rona, sitting in the top gunner spot, fired at the pair of A-9s, and the two quickly dodged her rain of fire. She nicked one, but the other dived under below the Enterprise and right into the waiting opening fire of Chloe. Her Protector reflexes served her well, as Chloe's rain of fire destroyed the damaged A-9. The last dodged, but was hit and destroyed by Dean.

Danni kept her eyes on the sensors in front of her. "Incoming!" she yelled as the mines opened fire with a rain of turbolasers.

Xander listened, but said nothing as he shifted the stick and sent the Enterprise in a wild spin, protecting Dean by using the Enterprise's shield as armor.  
Before the mines in front of them had a chance for a second rain of death, the Star-Saber cannons had finished them off.

Ani grinned. "Great flying, Saber," he said, keeping to the code name.

"Just keep up with me Turtle and I'll be happy" Jania said as they attacked more mines.

With Xander's group leading the way, blasting away mines around them, the other fighters could better handle the left over mines and fighters. It was a simple and deadly strategy. Xander's team focused on mines and self defense. Two of the X-Wing squadrons and the two A-Wing squadrons attacked the enemy fighters.  
With the big ships followed by two squadrons of X-Wings bombing the enemy big ships, it was a surprisingly fast battle. The enemy's superior defense had been negated once they knew where the mines were and between Xander and Jaina shooting up the space mines, they soon were a danger no more and the tide of battle turned quickly.

They were winning. Enemy forces were destroyed or ran away.

"This is Slayer squadron to Turtle, thanks for the assistance and clear space," one of the XJ-Wings said as it flew back into the hanger ship.  
Xander opened the hanger door. "D1 and D2, mother said dinner is ready, stop playing with the neighbors," he said to the two Defender pilots.  
Dean laughed, "But mom, I'm not hungry." he replied, even if he could see that his Defenders fuel was low.

Xander continued the playful banter. "Now now boys, you can go out and play later, dinner first." Deak was laughing as he flew back into the mother ship.  
Jaina followed with a smile. "Well, I'm a good girl, I come home to eat when I'm told to, hungry or not." Her XJ-Wings cargo of fuel was much greater than that of the tiny Defenders, so her fighter could have kept fighting much longer.

*

Later in the galley

Xander looked at the two Defender pilots. "Dean, Deak anything to report?"

The two looked at each other. "No, the extra speed makes the Defender a bit jumpy, but nothing we can't handle, but thanks anyway, mom," he said with a grin worthy of a devil.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Good. Jaina, same question."

She smiled at him. "Not even close, honey."

Anakin poked his head in the door. "The landing ship asked if we are ready to land the troops. They cannot stay here too long or more Republic big ships may arrive."

Xander nodded. "Tell him we are ready and may the Force be with us." He turned to the two devorians. "Now boys, we are going to play in a rough neighborhood, so see that you carry big guns and armor and remember it's not your duty to die. It's your duty to make the enemies die." He grinned and so did they.

Xander enjoyed the humor of the Defender pilots. The Defender class was a close support defense starfighter, created to defend other starships from star-fighters. It was short range, (Not much fuel = short combat time) tiny with small weapons, but even small ships could pack away a number of these crafts. Thanks to their extreme maneuverability they could outfight the larger TIE-Fighters. (The TIE was faster, had more fuel and so had more fighting time before the generator was out of fuel.) A Defender, like any small child, should always stay close to their mother, but the Defender was a kid that could handle himself against even the big bad neighborhood kids and the standing joke about mothers, kids and time for dinner was born.

Dean and Deak liked the Defender. It was small, but had a deadly bite. Both were also trained in ground combat and now the other half of their mission would begin. "See you later, with luck sir," they said.

Xander nodded. "I hope so too. It has been an honor to serve with the two of you. I hope we have the luck to do so again." Their luck, he knew, might not be that great. Defender pilots did not have a long life expectancy, especially in combat against real fighters. Like TIE-Interceptors.

*

Outside fifty landing ships were gathering as they prepared to land troops on the planet.

"Let's rock and load," he said as the order to go was given.

With Jaina by his side in the cockpit, they entered the atmosphere.

Outside they could see the Republic had left most of the industrial areas intact, but they had blasted and even bombed the non-essential areas. Like cities far away from the important industrial areas of the planet.

"Bastards," Anakin said from behind.

Jaina nodded. "Remember, we have the same order. We can use big bombs to take out Republic forces as long as we don't hurt the industrial center."  
Anakin was silent for a moment. "I know," he said quietly. He did not like that. Xander and Jaina joined forces as they Force cloaked the ship and then activated the REAL cloaking shield. To any Force using a spy it would look like they used just the Force cloak, and not technology.

*

Later

Using the Force to guide them, Anakin had found a cave near the sea where they parked the Enterprise. Deak and Dean helped them put up a camouflage net. Soon you would have to stand no more than four meters from the ship to see it.

A short time after the two Devorians lifted off, they got ready to get away on speeder bikes. Xander and Jaina were sitting ready on their Star-slinger racing swoops. Anakin and Rona were sitting on normal swoops and Chloe and Danni were sitting on repulsor-bikes.

With a burst of fire the six young warriors were gone.

*

Later in a nearby town

The Alliance troopers had problems. The Republic was pinning them down with heavy fire from repulsor tanks and with five or maybe fifty, he could not see how many sniper nests, spread out the whole length of the street, hidden by sensor baffling material and camouflage shields. Around the area they had spread sensor jammers to even further confuse enemy sensors.

They were as good as cloaked. Using low-light blaster gas, the bolts of fire they shot from the heavy F-web repeaters were almost invisible also. He did know where the jammers were, the sensor confusing signals they were transmitting made it easy to detect them, but to reach them they had to enter a position where at least five sniper nests could kill you if the two repulsor tanks could not.

Hiding here would not work. The repulsor tanks were slowly pounding the protection down, blast by blast from an extreme long range.

"We need reinforcements," the captain said in to the communicator. "I know that. Why not let the X-Wing bomb the place?" He listened for the reply. Joy, it was near important fuel lines. If they bombed them, it could go boom and then the factory west of town could be damaged. "Right, so no bombs, any help on its way? Jedi, right, and they get here when?" he asked in a stressed voice.

"Stress is bad for you," a voice from just beside him said.

He twisted around, seeing a smiling man in strange armor. He was about to scream for guards when he saw the lightsaber he was holding. "You are the…" he was interrupted.

"We are," a female voice said from the other direction.

Jaina smiled, standing up. Beside her were Rona, Chloe and Danni. "Jedi Knight Jaina Organa Solo reporting for duty," she said as Rona stepped forward "Force Guardian Rona, ready to serve," she said.

Chloe snorted. "Let's kick ass already," she said, then muttered: "Um I'm Chloe," she shrugged. "Sorry."  
Danni smiled. "Hi I'm Danni, I'm a student," she said.

The captain nodded. "And you are?" he asked Xander, who slowly stood up from his sitting position. "Jedi Master Xander Harris Solo, at your service." he said with a deadly calm voice.

The Captain nodded. Nothing in his mind protested these were the real deal. "Good. We need help. We know about five sniper nests, but as well hidden as they are, there could be fifty of them for all we know and there are also two repulsor tanks. If we could take the snipers out, we have the weapons to deal with the tanks."  
Xander nodded as he looked at the map. "Get me a big gun. E-webb or F-webb if you have it, and then I'm going to teach you guys a children's game called 'Following the leader'," he said.

The army captain blinked. "YES sir," he said with awe.

Jaina smiled as she followed Xander out. "It really did work. I believe we would have to argue an hour just to get him to trust our skills," she said.

Xander smiled. "They said he was distrustful of young people, but had a great belief in the Force. A demonstration that looked impressive and boom, he would follow us to hell and back," he said.

It was lucky they had thought to ask for information about the command officer in the unit they would be helping. The small number of Jedi made it necessary for them to work as roving problem solvers, arriving as fast as possible to help different units with different problems before moving on.

*

A short moment later behind the armored duracreate protection

An F-webb, sweet, they're good, Xander thought. He leaned back. "Right, the rules of the game are these. Where ever I fire is a hidden sniper nest. Once I fire, you all fire. I go on to the next nest and fire. You follow. It's a simple game of following the leader, with me as the leader. Are you guys ready to play?" The soldiers started to grin as they saw the nodding and almost worshiping face of their captain.

Xander hunched down behind the F-Webb. This was a big weapon, much like a small cannon. The gun itself was around 3 meters long and two men could carry it into the combat area. A tripod carried its weight; behind it was a big box with a power generator and a computer fire-control unit.

Normally there was a crew of 4 men handling the gun when they moved it, while during combat two men was the normal crew, one to fire and one to handle fire-control, but one person could handle it alone.

Xander did not need an extra fire control application to improve his targeting ability. He used the Force as he closed his eyes and focused. He could sense the snipers.

He started to fire, full automatic right at the first nest, then quickly over to the next and the next. Nineteen snipers nest in all, not five or fifty.  
One by one they were taken out by combined fire of grenades and E-webbs.

The captain grinned. "Right, get to your positions," he said as the missile men hurried forward. Without the snipers to worry about the missile men could sneak forward protected by the ruins all around them. "Thank you" He looked around, but the Jedi and their friends were nowhere in sight.

"Sith spit," that was spooky. He frowned, what was that, bactate, healing cookies? "Get me the healer, our friends gave us a much needed gift." he grinned. He liked Jedi, they were good.

**41. 10-4**

Note: OK I admit it, Inachis send this to me about 10 days again, but until now I couldn't look over it because I simply hadn't the time. As a small gift you get both parts left from Chapter 10 merged together.

10-4

Later in the capital

Jaina sneaked silently inside the big government building. They had received information about a team of Republic Special Forces hiding inside. Using the buildings advanced communication network they had a base of operations the enemy could not listen into. They were correct. She could sense, although not see, the hidden cables connected to the main communication computer inside the central. Being connected to that computer meant they had a complete connection to every satellite and communications tower on the whole planet. Even Aqua-wako, the underwater twin city to Wako, the floating city and Sub-Talana, the underground city, was within their line of communication. Sneaky, that meant that they were hiding their main communication central somewhere inside a building twice the size of a Star Destroyer.

Following the cable down to the cellar level of the building and into the corridor where she now was, she frowned. The corridor just ended. Extending her senses, she soon found it. They had built a fake wall. Inside she felt fifteen beings, each with an improved sense of their own intelligence, Communication officers and a tactical specialist.

Now that was really sneaky, the Alliance troops had searched this building twice without finding anything and here they were, the leaders of the invasion force.

Bunkered up and hiding, right in the middle of it.

Jaina sneaked out. Xander would be so irritated. He had believed they used Sub-Talana as the hideout.

*

At the same time in Sub-Talana

Xander frowned. "The invasion force, the Correlian independence? None of this rings a bell?"

The native looked shocked. "What invasion? What independence?" he said in confusion. What happened upstairs never really concerned him.  
Xander groaned. "I bet Jaina was right."

Danni smiled. "Look, is that a real volcano?"

The native smiled. "Yea, that's our pride. Using geo-dampeners we tamed the old guy." Of course the geological activity on his home world was rather low in comparison to some places, but the fact was that they tamed the volcano and now they could tell exactly where and when an earthquake would happen, small earthquakes they could even stop.

Xander looked as a real flow of lava lighted up the lower part of the city. "Nice," he said, worried. He should have brought something to barbeque. Fire and he were not on speaking terms.

*

Two days later

Xander relaxed on top of the Enterprise's hull. He was meditating. The planet was secured and now only small fire fights between Republic terrorist and Alliance troopers broke out. The local Corellian's were crawling out of their hiding holes and bunkers. They were free, but deeper in the Correlian space the battle was still raging, Starship battle. He knew he and the Enterprise would be useful, but not that useful. He felt he was needed to go to other places.

Time and space were whirling possibilities and futures around him. Changing, destruction and life. Future paths with Jaina and Danni, Danni and no Jaina or Jaina and no Danni, the future was changing constantly between the tick and the tock of the clock. Normal future, hard to see it is.

Yet he could feel a small number of paths to the most likely future. Every now and then one would vanish or a new one was created. Choices, so many potential lives were gone as a potential future vanished, destroyed by a simple choice between to do or not to do, and just as many were born from a simple choice.

Anybody seeing and changing the future would be the worst murderer in existence, he mused to himself as he exited his meditations. We kill and destroy what is not yet born and save what is not yet in danger.

Yay to us!

There is no emotion: There is peace.  
There is no ignorance: there is knowledge.  
There is no passion: there is serenity.  
There is no chaos: there is harmony.  
There is no death: there is the Force.

After saying the Jedi code to calm and collect himself, he walked inside the ship. He was calm and he was ready.

"Danni, are you ready?" he asked. The girl nodded. It was time.

Xander walked up to her. "Then it's time to see your Zeltron Force skills in action," he said.

Jaina nodded and Danni smiled. "Really?" she squealed excitedly. She started to focus as she danced in front of them.

Xander frowned, a mild mind control. No, not mind control, emotional control. He felt lust and passion as he watch the red skinned Zeltron dance in front of them, eager to please, seductive and sexy.

Jaina grabbed his shoulder. She did not look happy.

Xander nodded and kept himself calm. "Anything more?" he asked her.

Danni nodded. "That's the Dance of Lust. It's a party trick, but can be used to lure enemies away. I have other skills for curing the sick, where I focus the Force through my whole body, sending it inside the wounded or sick person and healing him or her," she said. "If you strip, I can show you how it works." she said, ready to start stripping.

Jaina sighed. "Let me guess, to do the curing trick you have to be nude," she stated.

Danni nodded. "Yes. It's really fun if you like the person you are helping," she said, somehow hanging on both of them, barely dressed.

Jaina snorted. "I bet it is," she said.

Xander groaned. "Danni, you know if you just learned to focus the Force the right way, you could use only a HAND to do the cure the sick skill," he said.

Danni nodded. "That's why I'm here to learn, but I still believe my old ways are more fun if I like a person. Snuggle up together and our body heat will warm us up. As we come closer together, the Force will pump in harmony within our hearts."

Xander sighed. "So all your skills need sex or erotic feelings or am I wrong?" he asked.

Danni looked insulted. "Of course you are wrong. I have tricks that help children have fun, tickling to make them laugh or mental tricks that help a depressed person find something joyful in his life again. None of them have anything to do with sex." She looked at them for a moment before she started to quote the Zeltron witch code. "The path of happiness leads to love and passion. It's an old witch saying and our sacred code of the love Witch of Zeltron is."

"There is no regret: There is happiness.  
There is no lust: There is passion.  
There is no hate: There is love.  
There is no order: There is Life.  
There is no Death: There is the Force."

She said, looking extremely happy and relaxed.

Xander realized something, Huston we have a problem. "I see."

Danni nodded. "You Jedi have forgotten. The Light side of the Force is LIFE. Its emotions like joy, love, compassion, passion and friendship. The Dark side is DEATH.  
It's the emotions of hate, anger, fear, lust."

Jaina frowned. "One question. What the difference in your opinion between lust and passion?"

Danni nodded. "Lust is selfish. Somebody feeling lust wants only to make him or herself happy. Passion is somebody who wants to spread joy to both him or herself and the person he or she has fun with." She said with a smile.

Xander nodded to himself, Huston we SO have a problem. "I understand." He thought to himself: Either the Zeltron's were immune to the Darkside or the Jedi made a big mistake in controlling their emotions the way they did.

Danni continued. "A person should be the master of his emotions, not be mastered by them. You Jedi suppress your emotions. No wonder there are Dark Jedi." She sniffed.

Xander nodded. Perhaps, but then he felt most of her ability to focus the Force came from using a tiny crystal around her neck as a medium and using dance movements as a ritual aid. Without the tricks of her crystal and her dance skills, the Force would be useless to her. They would not work and lacking the deeper connection to the Force a Jedi had would also protect her from the Darkside.

Jaina shook her head. "No, that's not it. Your lack of connection is what protects you from the Darkside," she said. Jaina knew she was powerful; her ability to sense things in the Force was incredible. Xander and Jacen were her equal in that. So was Anakin and he was perhaps even stronger then she was, but Xander had help. The lessons he got from the ghosts of long dead Jedi gave him an advantage. Sure, he shared the skills with her, but he was given lessons by experienced Force Masters. She got her lessons from Xander.

Compared to her, Jacen was as strong as she was, but did not have her skills. She could beat him black and blue using only the power of the Force. If she used the lightsaber, Jacen was a joke, but with power does not wisdom come. She knew that. "Xander, what do the ghosts say?" she asked.

Xander thought about it. They did not say much. "I have to meditate and ask them," he said, leaving the girls alone.

Danni smiled. "Let's have fun and talk." Jaina looked nervous at that.

Xander felt that this was a breaking point in the Force. A personal future would die and a new one would be born. He hoped it was a good one.

*

One day later

Jaina frowned. "So what did they say?" she asked.

Xander blinked as he sat down and took a cup of cold chocolate. "They said that we Jedi were correct, from a certain point of view."

Jaina looked smugly at Danni and then her face fell. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Both Danni and Anakin had joined them.

Xander's face was troubled. "Some humans, all Zeltron's and especially humans of Skywalker blood and mine, are able to follow the Zeltron's path of light emotions."  
He took a sip of his drink before he continued. "But most humans are unable to, the same with most aliens. Their emotions would lure them away as they are unable to separate the Light side from the Dark side, but Skywalkers can, they are humans with great, but unusual emotions. Leia, Luke, Anakin Skywalker, Jacen, Anakin Solo and you, my love. All have strong emotions, yet they are separate in a way most human emotions are not. You can feel fear without anger and anger without hate. That's why Luke was able to first free Anakin Skywalker from the mental cage of anger and hate Palpatine or Sidius had used on him to make him his weapon, and then return him to the Light before he died, and that's why Luke, after being turned by the reborn Palpatine, managed to return to the Light himself. Skywalkers are the humans that bring balance to the Force. As for me, I brought change as I arrived."

Jaina shivered. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Xander was silent. "Anakin Skywalker never had a father, only a mother. Dark Plagius, the master of Dark Sidius or Palpatine, experimented with creating life from the Force itself. He succeeded and then he and the child he created was murdered by his apprentice Lord Sidius, but half across the galaxy a twin brother was created and his mother Shmi Skywalker suddenly was with child and named him Anakin Skywalker."

Jaina swallowed, wondering what this would mean. Were the Skywalkers born to be doomed to darkness?

Xander read her thoughts and shook his head. "The Skywalkers are born with the gift to walk back and forth between the Dark and the Light, as long as they do not surrender themselves to the Darkside. A true Skywalker would be able to call on the Darkside without becoming consumed by it."

Both Jaina and Anakin looked nervous. "Are you sure about this?" Anakin said.

Xander shrugged. "No. Fun right? Then in comes myself, from a dimension under alien laws of nature, using magic, which is a very different type of power. Super powered angels and demons changed me so that I would be able to survive here and save Earth in a fight. They gave me the skills I would need and modeled my body parts with powers I already had dormant inside of me, but they also fused me with the latent strength of the greatest of all warriors THIS universe had and as I was reformed in this universe, the Force answered, blessing me, cursing me. It adopted me. Like Anakin Skywalker, I am now a child of the Force. I bring balance to the Force," he said.

Focusing his anger in his hands, lightning started to spread as he focused on the Darkside. His soul was surrounded by the foul madness of anger, hate and the lust for destruction. Like a single candle in the dark, his anger lighted his path deeper into the darkness. Jaina held her arms protectively over both Danni and Anakin. They looked on with fear.

Then it stopped.

Xander let the anger die and so did the lightning. "It's dirty and disgusting, a constant feeling of pure destruction and sickness, but it also has the lure of destruction and the power of death." he said, shivering as he focused on his feelings of love, compassion and friendship and let them all feel it, projecting it with the Force, using projective empathy. Normally it was used to calm animals and aliens unable to understand what you said, but Xander was not showing this to just one person, he spread it around like a force field and it slowly turned into a spooky light like love. "Force Light. One of the most powerful, yet dangerous Jedi skills there are. The Light side mirror of a Force storm. You could destroy a Force wraith or remove sickness from a world, but the price you pay can be high, one mistake and you are dead. Try to affect too large an area and you are dead. Just like Force lightning or Force storm, it can consume the user."

He let the Force light vanish. He almost collapsed. Force light was one of the most powerful skills, yet even a beginner could learn to use it. It would kill him if he tried to use it, but he would be able to learn it.

With the light you could bring life to a dead world or like a ghost, vanish from one planet and reappear on another. That was according to one of the ghosts anyway, but he had not known how to use Force light to do that, but Force light was the ultimate power of the Lightside. The stronger you became the stronger and more effective your Force light would become. The Darkside Force storm demanded a master of the Force. You could ravish a world or teleport someone light years away, just by the power of the storm. The Darkside storm demanded a master and even then it was a difficult to control. Even a weak beginner cold learn the Light side's Force light, but only a master could use it without certain death and one mistake in using either skill, Dark or Light, and you would be dead.

Skywalkers could learn and master each side, life and death. So could he. It was a power he did not want and there was the danger of being consumed by the Darkside. The ghosts said that for that to happen he would have to surrender himself to the Darkside. But could he trust it? Or himself?

Danni was awestruck. "Um so wow. That does explain why you and Skywalkers are so, so yummy," she said with a smile.

Jaina frowned. "Was that Force Light?" she asked. "Luke warned us about that," she reminded him.

Xander nodded. Years before, Luke's first students, lead by Dorsk 81, had combined their powers and Dorsk 81 had used Force light to push back a fleet of Star Destroyers, but Dorsk 81 had not had the skill or the understanding of the power he used and he died because of the power of the Light.

Using that power, they had pushed a fleet of Star Destroyers far away out of a star system and damaged the engines so much that they were unable to return and had to sneak away trying to repair themselves with the Republic warships following them.

(Jedi Master Dorsk 82 is the clone of Dorsk 81. They are a race of beings that use cloning instead of having children.)

Anakin stared at Xander slack jawed. "You've got to teach me that," he said in awe. There was silence at that.

Xander could feel his curiosity. "Jaina and I will tech you, but first I want you to ask Luke, Kam Solust or Tione. Ask them about Dorsk 81 and what happened to him. I want you to write a report about Dorsk 81, use at least four living Jedi as a source of information."

Anakin looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

Jaina smiled. "Because Force light is the most dangerous power a Lightsider has. You become one with the Light as you use it. But not many Jedi have the skill to survive using it." She and Jacen had been only 5 years old then, but she remembered Dorsk 81. Never having been a child, born in his early teens and pre-programmed with all of the school knowledge he needed, he had been fascinated by children that young. Kam had told her later that Dorsk 82 often wondered how it would have been if he had grown up like a child.

Anakin nodded. "I understand." he said.

They were winners in this place, but the war had only begun.

*

Later in the Valley of the Jedi

Luke had listened as Xander described the information he had been told by the ghosts. Anakin himself had confirmed it, which was troubling.

Xander did not seem to care.

Jaina was still spooked by the information, Luke could tell that. She and Leia were talking about it now.

Perhaps it made no real difference. They were who they were and being the grandchild of the Force might not be that bad.

Xanders feelings of something being wrong and of being needed somewhere was disconcerting, the Enterprise was being loaded and recharged with fuel as they were ready to return to their watchmen duty. The Minos cluster had more pirates moving around them. They also had other problems as the New Republic was moving in nearby sectors.

Troubled the future was. Still he had the feeling they were on the right track.

*

Later, the Enterprise lifted off and vanished into space.

Jaina sat next to a troubled Xander. "What is it?" she asked.

Xander sighed. "We have a choice to make. I could make us return home to Shesharile or use the Force to guide us to where ever it is that I feel I'm needed to be," he said. His hands were shivering. "It could be dangerous. Anybody who does not wish to join me can go back down to Luke."

Jaina hugged him. "We go together. I go with my man," she said with confidence.

Chloe nodded. "We are with you boss." she said. Rona just grinned and Danni smiled. "Wherever the cute and sexy male Master and his sexy female Jedi Knight travel, the passion filled student will follow." She grinned.

Anakin nodded. "I agree. I'll go were my Masters are going." He was happy that by asking nicely (aka begging) and by following a logical reasoning, Luke and Leia had agreed that Xander and Jaina would make good Jedi teachers for him.

The dark haired young mercenary Zeek was 20 years old, 2 years older than Jaina and 1 year older then Xander. He was a person Luke had asked to follow them. Both Zeek and Xander knew why. The young man had first wanted to be a Jedi, growing up in the poorer part of Coruscant. He somehow managed to become a friend to the rich Jaina and Jacen, but he made the wrong move and ended up as a Dark Jedi apprentice to the Dark Jedi Brakis. It was Jacen and Jaina who freed him. Luke offered him training as a Jedi, but the young man eventually refused in fear of his own darkness. Now he worked as a professional soldier for the Force Rangers.  
It was a bit awkward. Xander could feel that Zeek cared for and perhaps even had loved Jaina once, but he was good at gunnery and weapons. "I will follow where the Jedi walks, the Rangers will follow," he said simply, but with a fond smile. The only man Zeek was fooling was himself, in Xander's opinion. Zeek was a Jedi in his heart.  
With a blink the Enterprise vanished into hyperspace.

Xander's eyes were closed as he navigated space as only a Jedi could. Corran Horn and Luke Skywalker are masters at this. Luke had done this since the battle of Hoth. For Xander this was the second time he had ever done it, instead of using the nav-computer to follow established safe paths in hyperspace. He used the Force  
to detect where it would be safe to drive.

Like the first hyperspace navigators from a time when hyperspace was new and dangerous, when only the priests of Bendu could safely guide a ship through the endless dangers of hyperspace. It was really not that dangerous, if you were well trained. Xander was well trained, but he still felt nervous.

Jaina looked relaxed as she saw the blinking light of the stars race past them on the outside. "Open your eyes. Xander, the course is set."

It was.

"Darkness and danger awaits us. We have to prepare the Enterprise for battle. This time I have a feeling we need no fighters." He sounded confused.  
Jaina nodded. "I'll go and tell the girls." She frowned, she got a feeling that it was a danger Xander should know.

Old and new mixed together in a new shape.

"Alright girls, let's get our things together," she said, ordering the gang. Anakin looked insulted and Zeek looked amused, but they both agreed.

Chloe grinned as she petted Anakin head. "Come now Ani, a cute girl like you shouldn't look insulted," she said, giggling at the shocked and irritated look on Anakin's face.

*

Two days later

To the irritation of every one, Xander had inspected equipment and weapons.

Rona had been forced to carry a second gun besides her beloved Penetrator, a Bryar gun as backup.

Xander looked worried. "Your Penetrator is smaller and a more powerful class 5, but it has a slower rate of fire. The Bryar blaster pistol fires at Class 3 on full automatic. The Bryar can also charge-up a blast which takes a second to do, but that singe bolt of plasma is at Class 6," he said.

The Bryar's normal bolts were small, the size of a normal sporting gun with a high rate of fire and huge amount of ammunition, 300 shoots before reloading was needed, but the single charged up bolt was extremely deadly, each charge up used 10 bolts worth of energy on the normal level.

Rona nodded as she put it on her back. She liked her smaller Penetrator better.

Chloe also got a Bryar gun. It was a great compromise between small size and power.

Zeek looked on. "What about you Jedi then?" he asked.

Xander's guns were useful, one Bryar gun and one Thunderer, a small concussion pistol and a chemical missile weapon, which he called an improved Eagle.  
Zeek's artillery was good also, one concussion carbine able to fire automatic blasts of charged particles. Anything it hit was smashed like a bullet and burned like a blaster from the bolt of charged particles. In single fire mode it fired charged particles that exploded with the power of almost two hand grenades. It was a weapon that lightsaber users were unable to parry. Kyle had told him after his first fight against Dana that a skilled Jedi could use telekinesis to push the bolt away. He also had a back pack full of sequencer charges. The small disk shaped bombs had three settings, one worked as land mines, the other as hand grenades and the last set it to explode at a given time.

Jaina and Xander were surprised at the arsenal Zeek had. "Your friend Kyle Katarn involves himself with the training of the Rangers. Those babies make any storm trooper look like a sick puppy." Zeek said.

Jaina shivered. "Let me guess. He tipped you off to the concussion gun?"

Zeek nodded. "Yeah, like to see a Dark Jedi parry this."

As a side gun he had both a Bryar gun and a BlasTech DL-44 heavy blaster pistol, a weapon favored by Han Solo, Mara Jade and many smugglers, and often used by Kyle Katarn as well.

Xander nodded. "If I'm correct, Hutt mercenaries might be there, but most likely there will be a Darksider. Anakin, Chloe, keep moving and do not let him catch you.  
Danni, you work as medic and Zeek and Rona as backup. Jaina, we have to tango with the big guy."

Jaina nodded. "It's him right?"

Xander nodded, his eyes looking far away. "Yes. Hakon is calling us, but he is nothing, but a minor disruption, if what I feel is correct," he said. Rona and Chloe paled, a Dark Jedi Master. Anakin grabbed his lightsaber.

Zeek nodded, taking a wad of chewing gum from his mouth. "Let's get it over with. I'm almost out of chewing gum," he said.

Xander laughed. "There is saying where I come from. –I'm here to chew gum and kick ass and I'm all out of chewing gum," he said as he walked back into the cockpit. "We will enter normal space tomorrow by lunch, if I'm correct, give or take an hour. Hakon has opened a dimensional gate and invited us to fight him or he will use it."  
Zeek nodded. "Kick ass," he said, chewing his gum.

Rona frowned. "Did you bring some extra sequencer charges? I might need them," she said.

Zeek nodded. "Do you like thermal detonators?" He had some in his cabin.

Anakin shivered. "I don't know what I'm most afraid of, the Dark Jedi or Zeek blowing them up."

*

Later in the cargo bay

The two Defenders were gone. They had to leave them behind as Anakin's Interceptor and A-wing Mark 2 Star-fighter was parked inside.  
Even with the fighter parked inside, there was still room, and Jaina and Xander made maximum use of that.

Hiss, Hiss. His two blades sounded as Jaina single blade parried them. Then Snap hiss. Jaina pulled out her lightdagger, a backup weapon she had made on Luke's order. While not good at Jar'Kai, she could still kick ass. "Not as lucky, are you?" She grinned, attacking and fiercely driving Xander back. Only a Force jump saved him.

The two battled wilder and faster around.

Zeek was awed about how far Jaina had come, but her husband was something else. A natural lightsaber user if he ever saw one, shifting between different forms as easy as fish could swim.

Rona spoke up from beside him. "Impressive, right?" He nodded. "Right, none of them uses stun sabers. So they're holding back."

Zeek was puzzled. "Stun-sabers? I heard he's strong?" he asked. Rona nodded. "He is. Unless she uses the Force, Xander is stronger than Chloe." Zeek blinked and looked at the shorter 16 year old girl standing beside the 15 year old Anakin. "I'm so impressed," he said.

Rona snorted. "Ha ha. Chloe is a Force Guardian. Most of us are four times stronger than a normal human. Chloe is two times as strong and I'm four times." She grinned evilly. "What about the two of us have a simple martial arts fight, just for fun?" she said.

Zeek looked doubtful. "I don't know. I'm rather skilled." he said, worried. Force Guardian or not, he was trained by the best.

*

Later

Zeek was utterly humiliated. "You are good," he said to a beaming Rona. "I forgot that Force Guardians learn the art of fighting faster than a normal humans do." he said, looking at Rona. "And they said something about special abilities. What is yours?" he asked.

Rona shrugged. "Most Guardians seem to believe it should be a guarded secret, but I don't care. Mine is learning. I learn any art of dancing or fighting almost the moment I see it. Unless something like the Force or cybernetic powers is involved, I can repeat it perfectly the first time I try."

Zeek swallowed. "How good are you?" he asked. She shrugged.

Jaina entered the room. "She can keep up with me and Xander using lightsabers. As long as we don't cheat and use the Force as a weapon."

Xander continued. "She also mastered some Wookiee brawling art. A pair of Noghri trained her in their martial arts. By the end they said she was close to being a master herself. She has mastered classic Coruscant police self defense art and some Slayer kung-fu that Robin Wood taught her." he said.

Rona was blushing. "I also know some Judo and blaster-fu or whatever it's called," she said, trying to describe the art of using a blaster pistol the right way.

Jaina nodded. "She's our friend. Hurt her and we will hurt whatever is left of you after she has hurt you back," she said, looking at Zeek. He leaving her and vanishing had hurt her years before.

Rona smiled. Zeek was strong and mysterious, dark, yet a good guy.

Danni looked around. "We should go to bed. It's going to be a hard day tomorrow," she said as she began to walk into Xander and Jaina's bedroom.

Xander raised his hand to stop Danni, but Jaina grabbed it. "No. Let her. She only wants us all to be happy and I'm too tired to fight her. Let her join us tonight. Let's see if we can make it work out," she said.

Xander felt dry like a fish on land. "Yes honey," he said.

Zeek blinked. "That lucky bastard." he said.

*

Next day

The Enterprise entered normal space cloaked and unseen by all.

Zeek was surprised they had a real cloaked ship. He decided to keep the secret as they raced down. The Enterprise was a strange ship indeed. A bubble pool in the bathroom with the writing on the bottom clear to see for anyone taking a bath - He who fights monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster - Wise words and he had a feeling that Xander put them there for fun or to remember.

A short time later they parked on a nearby moon to hide while they used the sensors. In orbit was an old Carrack light cruiser, a 350 meter long ship. Regardless of its name, there was nothing light about it. The old ship had safe sections build in like an old Earth submarine, and armored walls everywhere. To truly destroy it an enemy would have to destroy more than half the Carrack and even then survivors could be found among the destroyed leftovers drifting in space. Combining that with Class 8 speed made it was a difficult ship to defeat. Its weakness was the fact that thanks to the interior sections walls and armor, it lacked room to have many weapons.

The 10 heavy turbolasers were too light and not enough for it to hurt big ships and the 10 light turbolasers were too slow to fight star-fighters and also powerless to hurt big ships, but against ships in its own size class (100-400 m), it was a nightmare to fight.

Anakin blinked at the screen. "That's an old ship," he said in awe. He had never seen one before.

Jaina nodded. "Yeah, it's a good ship. I just hope it doesn't have fighters."

Xander shook his head. "No, hope for that. It looks like it has a hanger and it's the updated version. They replaced the 10 light turbo lasers with 10 smaller quad anti-starfighter cannons."

Right now Xander hated smart enemies.

Hakon was here and there was something more. "Do you feel that?" he asked.

The others sensed it too, like a strange feeling of pain slashing its way through the solar system.

Jaina nodded. "What is it?"

Anakin shivered. "I don't know but whatever it is, it's making the sun unstable."

Xander answered him. "It's a dimensional rift. Down there was the gate machine I destroyed. If Hakon has managed to repair it..." He was silent.

Anakin swallowed. "This is…" he asked. Xander just nodded.

Jaina cleared her throat. "There is a Correlian gunship down there, most likely one of his."

Xander switched the cloak on. "Let's go down there and have a talk."

Anakin frowned. "I… I think Hakon has connected himself to the machine somehow."

Xander nodded. "This is the last chance, if anybody wants to run. The A-wing and the X-wing have hyperdrives," he said. Jaina and Anakin smacked him. Those were their crafts.

Nobody wanted out.

Let's get down there. Nobody said it but they were all thinking it.

*

Later on the surface

Mushroom like trees, just as he remembered.

The others had their armor and helmets on, but not Xander. It was something he had noticed, in a misty atmosphere he could use his gills to sort out poisonous gas that would otherwise make the air not breathable.

It was just like last time. Except this time he knew that the atmosphere was actually deadly to humans. Mushroom tree spores filled the air and the lungs of anybody trying to breathe. Not him, his gills somehow removed them.

"It's just as I remember. The ruin is over there," he said. They had not landed far away. R3 and R6 were linked up to the Enterprise, ready to come and save them with the ship if need be.

"Rona, Zeek, you come from the east and be the surprise. We take south." he said and started to walk with Jaina beside him.

Rona and Zeek activated their speederbikes and vanished.

Anakin nodded as he followed them with Chloe beside him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, as Anakin was fingering his lightsaber with his multi tool.

Anakin grinned. "Just fine tuning it, I'm not happy with the focus of the ray yet. It keeps getting unfocused over time unless I fix it every week." He knew the others did not have that problem, but he had decided to make a highly pristine blade. More cutting damage, but constantly in the need off more TLC as Xander used to say. (TLC = Tender Loving Care)

Chloe nodded, removing part of her shield gauntlet. "I know what you mean. It took forever to get this to fit me correctly," she said. Anakin was about to say that it wasn't the same, but said instead: "Thanks. I hope to get it right too."

Chloe smiled. "Did you know? For a geek you are cute," she said.

Anakin laughed. "Thanks. So are you. I mean even if you are cute, you are a protector or. I'll be quiet now," he muttered.

Chloe giggled. "Thanks. I think."

Anakin nodded. He could perhaps help her with her armor. "You know, if you remove what you have on you, I could help you make it better." he said, then blushed. "I. I was talking about the armor, I'm good at that."

This time Chloe was blushing too.

In front of them Jaina's Jedi meditation was stopping her from laughing over her clumsy little brother.

Xander had spotted the enemy and could hold himself from laughter. "There they are."

Down in the valley they could see them.

AT-ST and TIE-Tanks (TIE-Tanks are also called Centurion tanks). Build from the frame of a TIE-Fighter, the TIE-Tanks used tracks instead of ion engines. They are light and quick one man battle tanks.

The TIE-Fighters original ION engine and Repulsor engine was removed and a lighter Repulsor engine was installed, giving the TIE-Tank the ability to jump over anything the tracks get stuck on and fall from great heights without damaging itself.

It still had the same crappy cannons a normal TIE had, but also often a double heavy-repeater gun (like an E-webb or F-webb) was installed on the roof in a turret mount.

"A lot of enemies," the troopers were hired goons, a lot of them.  
Zeek was in place. He knew that.

Jaina nodded. "Walk in and fight or sneak inside?" she asked. Sneaking would be best.

Xander frowned. "No, no sneaking. He is prepared for that. Look, cameras. That camera takes special care watching that piece of ground."

Jaina nodded. "Yes. Why?" she asked and then added. "Trap, but how?"

Anakin answered her. "A weight sensor combined with a camera. If the sensor senses anything and the camera didn't see it, a bomb explodes."

Xander nodded. "Lots of places like that. He wants us to run a gauntlet for him. Just like last time. Anakin, most seem to be humans. When Jaina or I fight them, could you remove their breath masks from a distance? Chloe, you get sniper duty."

Chloe nodded as she packed up her sniper blaster rifle. The gun assembled almost 180 cm long. It was longer then she was, but it could destroy most speeders and even military armored crafts. Not AT-AT walkers, they were too heavy, but it could destroy an AT-ST, if you hit it at the right spot in the engine resting between the legs and the cockpit.

Danni watched. Her training in the Force was not that advanced yet. Using the Force without an artificial link or aid was hard to do, and she had so much to unlearn. She had the Crystal of Seduction used together with the Dance of Focus and she could use the skill of emotion manipulation. All her Force witch skills depended on primitive magic to use the Force and she had to unlearn the need for those focusing tools.

That was all they were, primitive tricks to help her access and use the Force in a special way.

Chloe was ready. The sniper gun was quick to assemble. It only had three parts that had to be mounted together. She climbed up on a tree and started to aim. She had to be careful with this. She could probably shoot four humans with one blast. It was a more powerful and elegant weapon then a barbaric lightsaber or a random weapon of death like a concussion carbine. The sniper blaster rifle was a weapon of elegance in the hand of a civilized person, she mused.

Side by side the two Jedi walked down.

The first At-St that challenged them was faced with a powerful Force push from Xander that tipped it over. Then another was sent crashing down from Jaina's Force push.

Now they knew trouble was walking inside.

Both AT-AT's turned and started to fire, but the Jedi had already moved. Running at high speed, Xander rushed towards the big walker and using Force flight he landed on its left leg above the knee. Extending his lightsaber to the full 2 meter length he pushed the blade in the knee, welding the left knee together. Then he jumped to the neck.

The troopers inside were surprised as one of the Jedi they were shooting at was suddenly standing on the window screen, swinging a gigantic 2 meter long blade straight inside the cockpit. With a flip of a switch the lightsaber shrank down to 1 meter again as he climbed inside, slicing up the screaming pilots and equipment before jumping out and drifting down.

Soresu was Jaina's solution. Using her skill in the defensive art of lightsaber combat, she parried and blasted the bolt right back at the AT-AT Walker, causing damage to one cannon. Seeing more At-ST in the corner of her eye, she ignored the big walker. Moving quickly she rushed away from the incoming grenades.  
Chloe fired once, then twice, and two of the AT-ST stopped walking and parked almost sitting on the ground. With the engine down, they were crunched down in a sitting position.

Just as Jaina sliced open the fuel pod on the last AT-ST, Xander jumped to the second AT-AT.

It was over in a minute.

The troopers were calling for the TIE-Tanks.

The fast moving small and heavy tanks were difficult for a Jedi to fight. Jaina and Xander had to dodge and parry the rain of blaster bolts they attacked with, moving closer to the ruin for protection.

A sequencer charge, flying like a discus, landed under one of the centurion tanks and the explosion took out its engine. A second tank got hit by a thermal detonator. Then concussion blasts started to tear down the soldiers in their way. Huge explosions erupted from the area Xander claimed was mined.

Zeek snorted to himself. "It's mined alright. Better I take more of those places out, before somebody uses them to take out Jaina and Xander," he said with a grudging grunt. The guy was good for his princess, no Jaina. He made a choice and now she was no longer his princess. Besides he kind of liked Xander, he was a nice guy. He pulled the trigger, creating more explosions.

Now where would I be, if I was a dark Jedi? Of course, I would be inside the temple.

Xander called out. "He's up there."

Jaina nodded. "Do you feel it? He is amused and something dark. A Force storm is coming," she said, worried. Only Palpatine had been able to tame the power of a Force storm. No wonder Darth Vader had called the Death Star nothing but a technological terror.

Xander agreed. "He's using what is left of the machine to create a Force storm. Or… no, he's creating rifts which act like a Force storm."

Jaina nodded. "We have to stop him," she said. The two hurried inside.

*

At the same time in space.

It started small, the size of a tiny apple sized rift in space, glowing white and pulsing in strength. Seconds later it was the size of a big apple, the kind of apple you call a city like New York.

It was moving.

Planet 1 in this solar system was the first to face the power of the rift. Crackling, it fell asunder in millions of asteroids which the rift consumed and then it was moving towards planet 4.

Inside the Carrack in orbit the captain, for the first time ever, ignored a direct command. He ordered them to move out of the solar system.  
At the same time on the surface of planet 4.

Xander and Jaina rushed into the temple.

There, holding a strange metallic cube was Hakon.

"Welcome. Soon I will be almighty, a god in this galaxy, or I will destroy the universe." he looked at them. "Either way sounds good. Right?"

Click, Hiss. Click, Hiss.

Click, hiss.

Jaina and Xander activated their lightsabers. "Not if we kill you first," they said together.

Click, Hiss and Hakon stood ready with his blade.

The three looked at each other for a moment, then they attacked.

Xander was sneaky, as he used the concussion pistol, but Hakon just waved his hand, sending the charged particles in a different direction. Picking up his lightdagger, Xander shrugged. It had sounded like a good idea.

Jaina was confused. Something about Hakon felt familiar, like he was blood and then he attacked.

Jaina parried as Xander cut and slashed in at Hakon who dodged, parried, kicked his feet, then slashed and stabbed his lightsaber.  
Xander dodged the kick, parried the blade and then parried again with the dagger before slashing hard, drawing blood from Hakon.

The Dark Jedi looked as surprised as they did.

Then all hell broke loose.

Force pushed away, Jaina flew out of the temple, leaving Xander alone.

Hakon gloated. "Now it's only the two of us," he said.

Xander nodded. "One question. Why do you feel like a Skywalker?" he said.

Luke had said some things when he asked him in a private meeting. If what he suspected was correct, he pitied both Luke and Hakon.

Hakon smiled. "Lady Lumiya wanted a perfect weapon. She mixed the blood between the two most dangerous and powerful beings she could find. Shira Bree and Luke Skywalker, my real father. Luke never knew I was born and my dear old mommy is Dark Lady Lumiya herself."

Xander nodded. "I see," he said while he was parrying, dodging, slashing and then stabbing. No mistake, then kick. Force jump away and land. He hated when he was right some times.

He could not be ignored now. Hakon's attack was faster than he could see, even as he parried and dodged, the Dark Jedi just kept pushing him back. It was time for the offense.

Letting anger into the play, he dived in closer. Force lightning danced around his lightsaber and lightdagger. Hakon backed away in shock as he was electrocuted and send flying from the impact.

Xander stood still. It worked. He took a deep breath, calming himself. No way would he take the chance of being consumed.

Hakon stumbled up with burn marks and yet another scar from Xander's lightsaber. "How did you do that?" he asked. For a moment it felt like fighting a Darksider.

Now Xander felt like a Jedi again, a shimmer of Force light surrounding him.

Xander shrugged. "You can too. That IS the power of Skywalker blood. The gift all of us who are direct children of the Force have. Unlike normal Jedi or Sith, the Dark- or Lightside can only enslave us if we choose to let it. Join me. Surrender your hatred, give up on your anger Hakon," he said, sending calming waves of light around him and using emotion control to try to keep Hakon calm.

It did not work.

Force lightning danced out from Hakon lightsaber as he attacked.

Xander swore as he used his dagger to parry the Force lightning.

The two started to move faster and faster.

Blood and parts of armor were slashed away from their bodies. The stink of burned flesh filled the room as they battled against each other. Hakon was better trained in combat then Xander was and stronger. Implanted cybernetic and bio-tech had made him super strong.

Bit by bit, Xander was losing.

Then Jaina jumped into the combat again with Rona at her side, with her shield gauntlet activated and a lightsaber in her hand. The two girls attacked, moving at full speed.

Side by side Xander, Jaina and Rona were fighting Hakon. Raged filled him as he used the Force to speed himself up and to attack with telekinetic power. The three of them were pushed back bit by bit. He was too powerful and skilled.

Then suddenly Hakon backed away.

The speed he was moving in had started to become too much, even for him and worse, Xander and Jaina had started to become accustomed to the speed. Between the two of them, they were almost his match.

Then he saw it in the door, two more Jedi. Anakin Solo, with his lightsaber burning and Zeek holding a concussion carbine in one hand and an active lightsaber in the other. Behind them, still visible, was Chloe. Her shield gauntlet's energy shield was glittering and her lightsaber glowing.

Hakon growled in anger as he sent out an explosion of Force push before Force jumping away out of the building. Not that he was scared. In a real duel 2-3 skilled fighter against one enemy would work, anymore and they would just be standing in the way of each other, unless they use the tag-team method. He jumped past the window. He slashed out at the roof with his Force lightning, at just the right spot, and the old stone roof cracked and started to fall down.

Xander and Jaina swore. "He's getting away." They had to run the wrong way as the roof fell down at them.

From their radio they could hear him speak to them. "It's too late Jedi. I will kill you all. The moment I enter the rift, the power cube of the old machine you destroyed will protect me from death and I will be like a god of destruction, greater than a Death Star. Once inside the rift, it will give me the ability to use Force storms."

He cut the transmission.

Xander growled. "Where is he? Let's get him before it's…" he suddenly saw a TIE-Defender fly away. "Is that what I think it is and how fast is it?"

Zeek nodded. "Yeah, the fastest space craft, engine class 16, speed 160 mglt at cruising speed and 640 mglt all out."

Jaina nodded. "What Zeek said," she stated.

Xander was beyond angry now. "Enterprise, come and get us now!" he screamed into the comlink. The engine of the Enterprise was a class 9, but his was improved so it was a bit faster than normal.

Anakin carefully noted, "If he is correct, we're fucked, right?"

Xander shook his head. "No, I can close the rift. I just have to be inside of it. You guys and girls should stay here. It's not safe."

Anakin snorted. "No, we are going if you are. When our powers combines, Force joined like Dorsk 81 and the other student did, each of our powers is multiplied by the number of Jedi involved."

Jaina paled. "We go." If Xander was to close the rift, they would have to channel their powers through him. Each of their powers would be multiplied by how many they were. Four that could use the Force and join up, that would mean that they all would be four times stronger and Xander would have 32 times as much power than he was used to. If Anakin was correct, that is. It could just as easily be 64 times as much.

None of them was sure how the Force multiplying worked during a joining and if Xander was too weak, she would be a widow.

A roar of mighty engines told them that the Enterprise was there.

Using Force flight and telekinesis, the whole gang was soon inside. They dumped the weapons in a casket to make sure nothing was rolling around and causing damage by accidently firing inside the ship.

R3 beeped worriedly to Xander.

Xander nodded. "Yeah, I know and it gets worse. To save us all, I have to stop the Darksider by entering that storm. If you don't want to come with us buddy, use the escape pod," he said to his R3.

The little droids peeped angrily at him.

Xander grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Just wanted to give you the same chance to escape what might be certain death that I gave the others." His R3 started to peep again angry. "I'm sorry I said it." It did not stop the angry droid. "What do you mean, I have to say I'm sorry to my friends?" he asked in surprise.  
R3 just kept peeping angrily.

Xander blinked and then turned to his friends. "I'm sorry that I asked you to leave me alone and to fight by myself." He turned back to his R3 unit. "Now do you forgive me?" he said, hoping the bucket of rust would.

R3 peeped happy, his owner was forgiven.

Jaina blinked. "You are so droid-whipped," she said, hoping her R6 wasn't listening.

Chloe looked a little uncertain. "Is it just me or do you find it scary too, that there is a word like droid-whipped?" she asked Rona who could only agree.

The Enterprise raced up in full speed of 440 mglt. At full speed his maneuverability would be almost nothing. At 440 Mglt the border between planet and space just raced by them, as they entered space flying faster than a comet.

This was Xander's first time using the full speed of the ship. He'd tried 400 mglt to test the engine, but never the full speed. The groaning sound of an overheating engine was not a good thing.

Jaina screamed, "Slow down or we'll break something." The engine was going into critical.

Anakin was keeping an eye on the sensors. "We're gaining on him. No wait, he noticed us." The Darksider speeded up.  
Xander slowed down to 320 and the engine stopped protesting. It was still in red, but no longer critical.

He was holding what the builder of the Class 9 engine claimed was the maximum speed the engine could handle and there it was. "It's huge." The rift or Force storm was big. The size of a small planet and it was racing towards them.

Anakin baled at the sight. "Zeek, Danni, Jaina, let's join up and help shield the ship with the Force. Xander, join up too and once we are inside, we give you the power you need." he said.

The three Force users joined up, linking their mind and soul as they pushed back the deadly energies leaking out of the rift. The Enterprise rocked back and forth from the tidal waves of energy that hit them. It was difficult to navigate his big ship. The sensors were dead, overwhelmed by the pure raging storm of energy outside. Flying by Force sense alone, he could sense that Hakon had the same difficulties, but his ship was smaller so he could navigate more easily. The tidal wave of energy hurt his TIE-Defender more than the Enterprise though.

Then the storm stopped and they were floating in a black void. The engines did not work in here. The laws of nature were different here. Ion engines did not create motion. He flipped them off.

Out there, like a tiny speck of light, he could see the TIE-Defender. Hakon was using his powers and the box, reaching out, claiming the power of the void for himself.  
"I need your power now," he said and they gave it to him.

Xander was drowning as his power climbed up more and more. "Force LIGHT" he said and exploded in a burst of light that blinded them all.

Chloe was first to see Xander standing in the middle of the cockpit, glowing like a torch, even burning. Everything inside and around her looked white from the purity of the light Xander was producing. Rona was white, she was white, Jaina white, Anakin white, Zeek white. Only streaks of black shadows outlined their bodies in the all consuming burning white light that had swallowed them.

"We look like bloody cartoons," she said in shock or awe.

Xander did not hear her as he fought Hakon for control over the void. Hakon had the cube. He had his friends. Hakon's cube gave him more powers. Xander stopped fighting. Instead, he attacked the cube.

In Hakon arms the cube suddenly cracked and Hakon screamed in pain as the void exploded around them all. In the bridge of the Enterprise, Xander screamed as the void attacked him. He pushed it away, but it was too strong. Then everything exploded and the Force storm vanished.

No sign of the Enterprise or Hakon's TIE-Defender was seen.

End of Chapter 10

**42. 11-0**

Note: Ok folks, here is the first part of the last chapter, sorry it took so long but there is still a bitch called real life for all of us. So thanks again to Inachis for here help and we hope the rest of the chapter comes a bit faster.

11-0

The reentry to normal space was violent. The Jedi were knocked down and drained of strength from the joining they had done. Chloe and Rona leaped to action as they jumped into the pilot- and copilot seats.

"Activate the cloak!" Rona screamed, seeing a planet that could have life on it on the screen, coming closer and closer.  
Chloe searched the panels in front of her, frantic. "How the hell do I do that?" she protested.

R3 peeped as he pushed a button, activating the cloak and the ion engine. He then rolled over to Xander. His life readings were weak.

The tiny droid activated the medic program he asked Xander to buy him and had Jaina had installed. He was not a medical droid by any means, but thanks to the program, he was like a simple doctor specialized in humans and near-humans, with subroutine fist-aid on helping Wookiees. A real medical droid would have had medical information on a million of alien races. He just knew humans and near-humans, but the medical doctor programs, now hard wired (permanent burned into him), made him super great at first aid and he knew one thing from his med scanners. Without help Xander was dying and he was the only one who trusted R3 to save him. R3 peeped nervously. He was not even sure that he COULD save his master.

Rona sighed. "I did something, the cloak activated." Chloe shook her head. "No, R3 saved us. What do we do now?" she asked.

The CGT device gave them some sensor data of the outside. Not much, but with luck they might be able to fly closer to the planet, then de-cloak and actually see what they were doing.

Rona bit her lip. "Let's try to land on that planet." It probably would be best to have solid ground under their feet.

Chloe nodded. "What about Xander and the others?" She was worried. Xander looked dead.

Behind them R3 injected a deep sleeping drug into Xander to slow him down. Then he injected an energy rich nourishment solution and force fed him a bactate cookie. Xander fell in a deep healing coma, as his energy was slowly recovering. R3 was happy. His master's body was now sleeping and recovering. He peeped happy. He did it. He saved his master.

R3 turned to the others. Aside from being tired and drained, nothing was wrong with them. He looked at Danni and peeped with dislike. She did not respect droids like the master did. Just to be safe R3 gave an injection of nourishment solution to both of them. His doctor skills told him that that would be best andthat was the correct action his med-scanner confirmed. They shifted very fast from unconsciousness to deep sleep. Except for Xander of course, who was still in a healing coma. He looked at the girls flying down to a planet.

With the cloak active he had no idea where they were, but he could, from the vibration in the hull, confirm they were flying in atmosphere. The crystal gravity trap sensor or CGT-sensor was useful, but this close to a planet it was jammed by the planet's gravity field.

Rona nodded. "Right, turn of the Cloak, I think we are close to the ground now" she said. Beside her Chloe reached out to punch a button when the Enterprise slammed into something hard.

The ship tumbled around in the air, crashed into something else and then the cloak was turned off by R3. They could see sand spraying the cockpit window as the Enterprise was digging its grave in a desert somewhere. Rona turned the ion engine off and turned the repulsor to maximum, to get the ship to stop moving.

It glided through the sand for another kilometer before stopping.

The repulsor lifted the ship slowly before Chloe activated the landing gear and Rona put her down. They looked at each other, then at R3.  
Rona asked the droid timidly: "If we tell him the Enterprise just crashed, would you rat us out?"

Chloe looked at the droid with puppy dog eyes. "Please don't tell him, he'd murder us," she begged.

R3 sighed. Why was he such a softy? Peep beep, he said waggling his body in confirmation. Rona read the translation on her data-pad. He would keep silent. They simply crashed.

The two guardians let out a breath of air. They were safe.

*

Two days later

Xander frowned as he drifted between dark and light. Something was wrong. Looking out he found it, the void. Part of the void was inside of him, waiting to be called  
upon.

What was more wrong was the Force. It felt weak, unused, and yet it was studying them, in a spooky way Xander knew their presence here was giving it ideas.  
He opened his eyes. "Hi cutey do you often sleep in the bed of strangers?" he said to Jaina. She squealed. "Xander, you're awake," she hugged him. "I was so worried. You slept for so long."

Xander nodded. "I feel better now. So let's gather everybody and see what has happened."

Jaina nodded, looking pensive. He would not like what happened to the Enterprise.

*

Later in the galley

Xander was not happy. They had hurt his baby. "At least nobody died. So I have no real reason to be angry." He took a deep breath. "So while I was sleeping, what did you find out about the planet we are on?" he asked.

Rona spoke up. "We are on Earth, in the Sahara desert in Africa, close to the Atlantic." She saw Xander's surprise. "I had R3 and R6 check up on things. It's not my world. My mom died four years ago and I was never born, instead they had two twin boys." She sounded depressed, yet happy.

Chloe nodded. "Never found any trace of my father. My mother seems to be in the military, but we didn't find anything more on her," she said, sounding a mix between sad and happy.

Xander nodded. "Did you find anything about the Watchers, Slayer, vampires, anything?" he asked in English. Had the powers that be lied to him?  
Chloe nodded, they had indeed. "Watchers USA, a civilian organization with military sponsors. They keep a close eye on children of the BMP soldiers. Watchers, Great Britain, a historical society that records history as it happened without getting involved," she said.

Rona continued: "We." A peep "R6 hacked the primitive database. Watchers England is apparently a secret society involved in sponsoring correct political persons on a global scale. R6 had to hack through a thousand different dummy corporations and false leads before he got into theirs. They are decades more advanced than normal Earth tech is." She was silent, then continued.

"Current leader is a man named Rupert Giles. He has a body guard named Robin Wood, a second generation BMP. From what we read, Wood and Giles are involved in assassination and created a war between Greece and Egypt to hinder the militant PSI movement in those countries to grow strong."

She sighed. "Most of the Watcher black operations are done by the Illuminati, another fake front of the Watchers." Rona watched Xander face as he frowned, meditating over what R6 had found out. From what she had read, the Watchers sounded evil.

"What did you find about Slayers?" he asked.

Chloe took over. "R3 helped me. Slayer or Slayers are an old English name given to animals that suffered from the eximius syndrome. It means" She was interrupted by Xander. "Super. The super syndrome, what does it do?" he asked.

Chloe explained: "It causes the animal to gain improved strength, speed and size, but the eximius also become unstable, especially predators. There are rumors on the web that the eximius animals have an almost human level of intelligence." She was silent.

Xander nodded. "This is not our world then. Anything more we need to know? Did you find out what the bmp are?"

Rona nodded. "O yes we did. It was the Bio Military Program. It started primitive during World War 1, by injecting soldiers with powerful doses of blood from animals with eximius, the result often was dead soldiers, but 10% gained directly improved strength and speed. 25% gained sometimes years later improved physical ability. 30 % died immediately. The rest lived although many died by cancer years later or became criminals. The successful ones were called the super-soldiers or BMPs."  
Xander swallowed. "They continued during WW 2?" he asked, but already knew the answer.

Chloe nodded. "And during the period of peace. Twenty five years. Then Stalin started the war." She could see Xander's surprise. "I know, but apparently in this universe, Hitler became a somewhat famous artist until he died by drowning while drunk in his villa in Paris. "

Xander blinked, than blinked again. That was actually funny. He wondered if he had had a better childhood than the evil monstrosity that he had lived through in his universe. "Um, was it the same guy?" he asked.

Rona shrugged. "No idea. But this world's Hitler looked bigger, a bit fat and happy," she said.

Xander nodded. "Perhaps it was a different Hitler then," he wondered, not knowing that in this universe Hitler's father Alois Hitler had married a Loise Noliare from France, instead of Klara Polzl and thus he became a completely different human being.

He frowned. What had they been talking about? Yes. "The BMP, what happened to that during WW2?" he asked.

Chloe answered, "They refined the method. Using direct injections of eximius to infect cells was one method they used. Another was using a bacterium that carried the eximius DNA. Modern scientists identified the source of the eximius as a virus that a human should be immune to. The number of survivors rocketed in number."  
Xander frowned: "If it was a man-made genetic mutation, what about the second generation?" he asked.

Chloe nodded. "That was the thing. With animals, if an eximius mated, the second generation was normal and had an improved tolerance for the eximius infection, but in humans the children were changed. It was discovered that they had paranormal ability, psionic powers."

He frowned. 25 years. The kids of the first generation of super-soldiers would have been grown up to fight then.

Jaina interrupted. "Right, tell him what the psionics can do," she said.

Chloe nodded, "Right. Each psionic has different types of powers. From ESP and sensing the future to danger sense, radar vision, PSYCHIC HEALING, healing, regeneration, regrowth, PSYCHOKINESIS, telekinesis, flight, kinetic shield, TELEPATH, empath, mind readers and mind talking. It was a skilled PSI healer that made civilians accept PSI in some countries. In others, they are hated or feared." She looked away. "On the internet they say there are rarer forms like PYROKINETICS and TELEPORTERS, but pyrokinetics are considered living bombs, most countries force them to live in isolation, and nobody has seen a living teleporter since the Australian border war in 1967. Rumors say that the government assassinates them."

Rona continued. "It is said that most PSI's have only one power that they can use and learn from, but it's not unheard of that a PSI has one strong power and a second weaker power." It was fascinating to learn that for mind-reading, the PSI-TELEPATH would first have to learn empathy, mind-shield, an animal empathy, and only then mind-reading. Each skill was related in a path that they needed to master before learning the next and most powers had one or more path of skills that the user could master, starting with a simple weak skill.

Xander nodded. "I'm tempted to fix the ship and move away. Hakon is still alive and this world has powerful humans living on it."

Jaina started. "Move away? Where to?" she asked.

Xander looked up. "Home of course. Hakon was correct. The void did give me a power." He focused and they could see a tiny crack forming in the air above his hand, then vanish. "It's inside of me now. Anytime I want to take the risk, I can open a gate and rip the fabric of time and space open. We can go home, Jaina."

Rona was silent, but Xander smiled. "If you or Chloe want to, you could stay on this Earth. R3 and R6 could easily create an identity for you or you could come with Jaina me. Take your time and choose," he smiled reassuringly.

Zeek on the other hand was not smiling. "What about Hakon? Do you think he has the same powers?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "Yes, yes he has. If I understand him correctly, he will try to find a way to return, but the moment he learns about the PSI-powers on this world, he will try to gain them for himself."

Danni looked spooked. "We have to stop him," she said. The darkness in that person had scared her.

Xander hugged her arm. "Don't worry, we will. Indeed we will," he said, before leaning back to meditate, sensing his enemies. "Right now Hakon is captured. Military black ops are holding him and his TIE-Interceptor. He is in a coma far away. Where I have no idea, someone is actually blocking me from finding the exact location, but he is gaining strength and so shall we as well. Zeek, Anakin, Danni, prepare to face the hell called Xander's elite training of Jedi. Correction, all of us will enter hell training. In there, there is no mercy." His eyes were glittering and for some reason, he really wished that he had a white kitten to pet right now.

*

Later inside the cockpit

Anakin and Jaina wondered why Xander had called them there.

Xander began to explain. "I have to explain Hakon's origin to you. Shira Bree or Lady Lumiya, as she calls herself nowadays, wanted a weapon and so she used blood  
samples from herself and the greatest Force user she had found. Luke Skywalker."

Jaina and Anakin were silent.

Xander continued, explaining things he had heard Hakon say and later things he had seen in his coma, flashes from Hakon's own life, but most from his talk with Luke and Hakon. "Lumiya did not want a child, she wanted a weapon and so the moment he was born, he was improved with bio-enchantments and cybernetic implants. Even part of his brain was removed and replaced with a cybernetic implant. A cyber-brain, which would make him enslaved to Lumiya permanently, but she told him to get lost and he did. Still, his first program was to kill all Jedi. He hates Jedi and Sith so much it's scary, but the ones he hates and fears the most are Lumiya and Luke. He is planning on destroying the legacy of the Sith- and the Jedi order. Any Skywalker or Solo is a person Hakon wants to see dead. He is beginning to hate me and Jaina more and more now."

Anakin swallowed slowly. "He is our cousin," he said in surprise.

Xander shook his head. "No, he could have been. He is a monster, part of his brain is cybernetic and programmed, hard wired to hate Jedi and to obey Lumiya."

Jaina was upset to hear that. "Why? How could Lumiya do that? Where did she get Luke's blood?"

Xander sighed. "Not sure it was blood actually. Lumiya was trained by Palpatine and Lord Vader as a Sith. She was a master at infiltration. On Palpatine's orders, she joined the rebellion and flew side by side with Luke as part of Rogue Squadron and as Luke's wingman and girlfriend. Until the order to kill Luke came, then she attacked without mercy. She had the order to get a sample of Luke, for cloning for Palpatine. I believe she kept safe another sample of sperm from Luke. In case she needed it."

Jaina looked sick. "That's awful," she said.

Xander nodded.

Anakin asked quietly: "Could we save Hakon?" Xander frowned. "Not without killing him or taking over the slave part of his cyber brain. Then he would be nothing but a simple robot, unless we do a complete mind-wipe and then operate out the cybernetic slave control in his brain and reprogram the cyber-brain."

He looked at Anakin. "Unless you are willing to do that, killing him and then making a clone of him would be much simpler and the end result would be pretty much the same."

The younger man, for Xander had a hard time calling Ani a boy despite the fact that he was only 15 years old, looked uneasy, but nodded. "I don't want to be a monster, Ani. Give me an option, give me a possible way of saving him, and we do it," Xander sighed. "But until then, he is dead."

Jaina nodded. "Why tell us?" she asked.

Xander replied, "It is something you need to know. If not, Lumiya could use it against you, claiming that Hakon was Luke's abandoned child, which he is not and yet in a way he is. He was born years after Shiira had left Luke to become Lumiya."

They nodded.

Anakin hesitated before asking: "Does Uncle Luke know?"

Xander nodded. "He does. I asked him about Hakon after our first meeting. He did not say who he was then, but I suspected it. Luke said Lumiya had created Hakon by stealing a genetic sample from someone she considered a powerful human." He looked out the window to the dry desert land. Not his kind of terrain. "He also told me all he could about the training and improvements Hakon has suffered in his life."

Jaina sulked, "That's so wrong," she said.

Xander nodded. "Yes, but remember, Hakon is a monster. Lumiya made him into a monster. What's left of his Skywalker body is possessed by a cyber-brain.

Tormented by training and mind-influence and skill imprints since the moment he was born." He stood up, "I think you two need to talk about this together," he said.  
He walked out, leaving the two Solo's alone in the cockpit.

**43. 11-1**

Note: As promised the next chapter faster than the last one thanks again to Inachis.

11-1

Outside in the evening

Rona shivered from the cold wind blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The desert was just a short bit away and was surrounded by a tiny green border of plants on  
the sea shore. The beach was wonderful, filled with sand only and the saltwater crocodiles could be seen resting a small distance away.

Rona wasn't sure, but as far as she remembered saltwater crocks did not exist in her version of Africa, but then the eximius didn't exist in her world either. The information said that the virus creating the super-animals effected reptiles differently than it did mammals. It made them super fertile. This world probably had a lot more reptiles in it. Lucky that snakes were immune.

From the ocean she could hear a strong, almost musical sound coming from beneath the surface. Then Xander walked like a sea-monster out off the Atlantic Ocean, snorting water out from his nose as he continued up the shore, carrying a big bag full of crabs for them to eat. He had been fishing. Now Rona could hear what the sound was. Xander was singing. Where ever he managed to get the sound of drums and guitars to come from Rona didn't even want to know.

-Down here all the fishes are happy as after the waves they roll. The fish on the land aren't happy. They are sad because they are in the bowl! But the fish in the bowl is lucky because they are in for a worse fate. One day,when the boss gets hungry, guess who is going to be on the plate?

Who-no, under the sea, under the sea, nobody beats us, fry us and eat us in fricassee. We want the land folks love to cook. Under the sea we are off the hook. We've got no troubles. Life is the bubbles under the sea, under the sea. Since life is sweet here, we got the beat here. Dum dumdum, under the sea –

By now Rona couldn't hold it in. The sight of a singing and dancing Xander dressed only in shorts and a belt holding his lightsaber and a bag full of sea crabs of some sort was just too much. His singing and dancing was too amusing. She started to giggle, but soon continued with full blown laughter.

Xander stopped his dancing and singing and let the music he created by vibrating the air stop. "Hi and that's the end of the show for tonight," he said ignoring the lizards that were looking at him. He walked over to her, calmly stepping over a big crocodile that looked rather hungry.

"Up late?" he asked. Rona nodded. "I want to see my dad and my twin brothers," she said.

Xander nodded. "I understand. From what R3 said, I have a sister, Alexandra. She's younger then I am." He sighed. "From the records it seems that even without the hellmouth my dad is a drunk just like my mother."

Rona swallowed. "So are you going to save her?" she asked.

Xander smiled. "If only things were that easy." He sat down on the nearest chair, which happened to be one of the crocodiles. "Sit with me." he said. The crocodile looked insulted, but one mind touch later it ignored them.

Rona nodded, the crock looked friendly now.

"She has never seen me. Nor did she ever have a brother before. If I'm saving her, what would I do and where would I take her? Forcing her to leave her own world?  
Join me in a galaxy of war? Is that fair to her?" he asked Rona.

Rona looked down. "She should have the right to choose, don't you think? And having her whole world changed by seeing a brother she never had, may be better than living with drunks," she looked pensive.

Xander nodded, "Then what about you? What are you going to say? Hi dad, it's me, the daughter you never had."

Rona nodded. "I know. I was planning on, on just seeing them. Not telling them who I am." If she did, they'd think she was crazy. Xander had those awesome Jedi  
powers as evidence, but they could just as easy be a PSI power.

Then there were of course his green yellow, not that human looking eyes that were glittering with an inner light and glowed hypnotically during combat, and the gills on his neck. They could be counted as evidence. She was of course so used to them by now that she had forgotten all about them.

None of them had any real evidence of whom or what they were, except for the Enterprise. This really was not their world.

Xander sighed. "We're going to train for a month and then head out to USA. Hakon is in a coma, the government is trying to heal him and find out who or what he is." He frowned. "If Hakon is smart, he's going to wait until he's learned English before running away." To help with communication the Jedi and Sith both had training methods that helped them learn new alien languages. By using the Force to translate what the other said, they could quickly master an alien language.

Jaina's inability to learn Wookiee was confusing from that perspective, but he suspected that some of the higher pitching sounds in his growling made it difficult. That translation learning trick made this one of the most dangerous Jedi/Sith powers that existed.

A legend said that during the old time of the Sith Empire a Dark Lord of the Sith captured a young Jedi that had mastered the Jedi translation technique. Seeing it in action, the Dark Lord offered the Jedi freedom if he showed him how to do it. It was according to the legend a deal the Dark Lord made and later mocked the Jedi over how much more dangerous they now were.

If that legend was correct, Xander wished the young Jedi had killed himself instead of accepting the deal. The suffering and war the Sith created using this translation and learning skill was impossible to count.

He nodded to himself, well Jaina and Danni said he should hurry back and if he was right, they wanted to do something nice with him. Some crabs for dinner, some wine and then who knew what would happen. He pushed out with the Force again. Tonight he would have a fun time with Jaina and Danni. He started to walk back to the ship, singing and dancing, ignoring Rona still sitting there on a peaceful crocodile that he had convinced to be a chair, at least for a short time.

-There you see her, sitting there across the way. She doesn't have a lot to say, but there's something about her and you don't know why, but you are dying to try. You wanna kiss the girl.-

Xander jumped up in the air spinning and as he landed, he continued singing.

-Yes you want her. Look at her, you know you do. It's possible she wants you, too. There is one way to ask her. It doesn't take a word. Not a single word. Go on and kiss the girl.-

Xander vanished in the distance on his way back to the ship, singing and dancing all the way.

Rona just stared after him. "And that is supposed to be a Jedi master," she said with a distinct lack of awe.

Zeek snorted out loud from the bushes he had been standing behind. "He's something special alright," he said as he walked down to Rona. "Did you know that Jedi Master Skywalker said I could learn much from him?" he said.

Rona nodded. "I believe that. Xander is old. Much older than the years he's lived. On some days he's like a child and yet he carries more wisdom in him than people much older than himself," she said.

Zeek nodded to himself. "I'm beginning to see the child in him." He gave her a smile as he too used the crocodile as a chair. It did not mind. Not yet anyway. "I'm afraid of my own power. Like a fool, I fell for the bait and joined Brakis. I was his first knight, a Dark Jedi, but somehow Jaina and Jacen returned me to the light. Perhaps I was never really a darksider. Brakis' Dark Witch complained that I was not real. That I had not yet given myself over to the power of the darkside, that there was still a weakness inside of me, a light that had yet to die," he said as he looked at the sea. "She was right. The Solo twins saved me. I was too afraid to continue with Force training, so I left, became a mercenary guard and then a Force Ranger. Luke wished that I join them as a Jedi this time."  
Rona put her small hand on his shoulder. "We'll be there for you and if you ever turn dark, we'll kick you in the ass, right back to the light so fast your face is going to show the bumps."

Zeek laughed.

That's it. HE had had enough of humans using him as a chair. With a roar the crocodile turned and attacked.

"AAAA! He's biting, he's biting!" Zeek screamed in fear at the monster that had a firm grip over his armored gauntlet and it was crushing it.

Not even Rona's full Force Guardian strength could force those jaws up. "Use the Force, you stupid asshole!" she said. Holding the angry crocodile still and keeping it from biting of his hand took all she had.

Zeek swallowed, half panicked. "Open your jaws!" he said, trying to give the primitive animal the idea. It was a hard thing to do.

Then it opened its jaw and roared in anger.

The two quickly hurried away.

Rona gasped for breath. "Right, Never use a crock as a chair again," she said, knowing Zeek was beside her and he agreed.

Zeek aimed his concussion carbine. "Get back into the sea. Now," he ordered the monster, using the Force.

Slowly the crocodile crawled back into the sea.

Rona giggled. "Let's get your arm checked up," she said. Zeek nodded. "Can you eat those things?" he said.

Rona blinked. "Yes, Grandpa said they taste good. But why?" she asked.

Zeek grinned devilishly. "I'm trying to find more than leather boots as an excuse for killing one. That's all I needed." he said before pulling the trigger. Now he would have crocodile boots and dinner besides.

Rona sighed. Perhaps his time as a darksider did give him a dark side, But he was still a good guy, even if he was laughing and talking to a dead crocodile. "NOT so tough now. Are you?" Zeek was still a good guy.

*

At the same time deep in the African savannas.

The A-Wing did not have a cloak like Xander's ship had, but it was small and that would let Anakin himself use Force cloak to hide it while flying, and it had sensor bafflers, a sensor absorbing energy field that would make it invisible to most primitive sensors like those used on Earth. At home it would only make it a little more difficult to detect his A-Wing.

Normally the A-Wing could only hold 1 pilot and no crew, but Anakin knew that for a short journey you could let a girl sit on top of your lap and fly like that. It was not a safe way of flying, but it worked.

It was beautiful out there. Endless grass landscapes, mountains towering above it and hidden by mist and clouds, then the big animals stomping around in massive herds. "What are they?" he asked in awe.

Chloe, who had joined him on his little joyride, smiled "Elephants, they are grass eaters," she said.

Anakin nodded. He had seen many bigger animals, some of them carnivores, but these had a special feeling of wisdom around them.  
Anakin left the A-Wing. Hand in hand with Chloe, he walked up to the lead beast, an old cow. Extending his powers he used animal domination to show the animal  
that they were friends unless she wanted to be hurt.

It buckled up, no posturing, no fighting. She accepted that these humans were friends. Chloe giggled as she felt the big animal sniff them. It smelled strange, not good, but not really bad either.

Anakin petted the cow's gigantic trunk. "Hi there old one" he said. "It's really an incredible animal."

Chloe nodded and said, "That they are."

The two smiled as they left the elephant heard alone. Ignoring the lone lion watching them, they returned to the A-Wing. It was time to return to the Enterprise.  
They just had to remember what Jaina said. "Be quiet and leave Xander, Danni and me alone tonight or I use your spine to floss my teeth with. Understand?"  
Zeek, Rona, Chloe and him had all agreed it was fair. They made noise and she would use their spine to floss with.

Landing carefully, he saw Zeek and Rona coming up from the sea.

Zeek looked at them. "Do you think we should go back inside?"

Anakin shrugged. "You're the Ranger, you first." he said. Zeek turned to him. "No way, you're the Jedi."

Rona sighed. Boys. "I go first. I'm the Force Guardian. Come on, Chloe," she said as she stared to walk. "Chloe, what are you waiting for?"

Chloe grinned sheepishly. "To see if you have a spine after entering the ship," she said, trying to hide her smile.

Rona growled at her idiot friends as she walked inside.

The galley had lights still burning, a dinner of crabs and expensive delicious things from Correlia and other worlds were still on the heater. From the captain's cabin she could hear giggling and sounds of… Well. It looked like Xander was having lots of fun tonight.

"It's clear, just be quiet," she said to the others.

They sneaked in. It was time for them to eat.

**44. 11-2**

Note: Here is the next part of this fine story, this part is a bit bigger than the last few so thanks to Inachis for all her work.

11-2

One Month later

A month spent training like crazy and if you were lucky, helping Xander to repair the Enterprise. Still, the fact was they were in better shape now than before. They had refreshed their skills. Rona had been a great source of training for them all. Her level in martial arts was out of this world and the scary part was that even now she was still improving.

With the help of R6 she managed to log onto a television program called 'Martial Arts expedition' a full contact martial arts tournament which included any form of unarmed combat fighting in existence, from boxing to judo. R6 recorded hour's worth of combat and she was studying it, learning by watching and then copying the movement, perfectly each time.

Just like Buffy, Rona was a bad teacher when it came to physical skills. The fact that normal's were unable to learn simply by doing the moves once seemed to frustrate her to no end. Chloe was the only one that could learn from Rona and even Chloe, who also had an improved learning curve in physical skills, was so slow Rona had to struggle with herself to keep from getting irritated.

Xander said that Rona's fast learning curve in physical arts made it difficult, if not impossible, for her to relate to slower learners. She just had to keep reminding herself how difficult it used to be and still was for her to learn piloting or mechanical skills, and then calm herself. It worked. She was slowly improving her own skills in teaching and discovered that by teaching others, she was learning new moves and tricks she could use in combat.

Zeek was retrained in using the Force to translate English so he would understand it. Jaina already knew English as did the rest of the crew except for Danni. But then, she was red skinned. Only by using a massive dose of makeup or a holographic imaging device that gave her a normal, almost African-American look according to Xander, Rona and Chloe, could she go out.

Danni used a mix of both methods. It worked.

*

At the same time in a top-secret military base, Hakon became conscious.

He did not open his eyes. Yet he did not need them to know that he was weak. His body was drained of energy and parts of his ribs, arms and legs must have been broken, as they were still mending. He could feel the power of the rift inside of him and he knew Xander also had the power of dimension travel, a power that should be his and only his.

Calming himself, he considered the situation. He was still weak and wounded. Where ever he was, he was surrounded by beings eager to gain the use of his ship and knowledge. He was safe as long as they did not know how dangerous he was.

Hakon opened his eyes and croaked out in Basic: "Water" A nurse followed by a military guard arrived. No droids that he could see and strange sensors which were connected with wires to his body, how utterly primitive.

"agageage" the nurse said in English. Hakon did not understand a word. He focused and used the Force to translate.  
The nurse spoke again, and now Hakon knew she said. –How do you feel- or something to that effect.

He had to learn. "Water," he said again, mimicking a drinking motion. The nurse understood.

*

The flight with the Enterprise over the Atlantic, in cloaked form, was nice.

They landed briefly in New York to see the Statue of Liberty. Zeek, Danni and Jaina had been incredibly impressed, although not by its size. No, they were stunned by the pure power of emotions they could feel from the statue itself. Generations of Americans and emigrants had seen it, for many it had been their first glimpse of the land of opportunity they had given everything to reach and their emotions had left a permanent imprint that Force users and empaths could feel.

It had a taste of hope and freedom.

With their inner strength recharged, they lifted off again.

A roar of three Harley Davison motorcycles revealed their arrival as they entered LA.  
(The bikes and their money had been a gift from a gang of criminal bikers they just had the luck of finding.)

*

Later in Los Angeles

Zeek scoffed, the stench of gasoline was irritating. It reminded him of his childhood, living on the streets in the lower level parts of Coruscant. "So, this is your home world? Not much to see," he said. Xander, Jaina and Danni were hours away, leaving them behind as they drove away to whatever they were doing.

Rona frowned. "Huss you, we're primitive, not stupid."

They were sitting outside the university. In their flexible armor and normal biker jackets, they looked like professional bikers.

The students walked around them, not daring to make them angry.

Zeek just smirked. Then he stopped. "I found them," he said.

Rona tried not to stare. Her brothers or what could have been her brothers, IF she had been born here. They were 19 years old, the same age as Xander, and two years older than her.

She remembered that her own father had told her that mom suffered a miscarriage, thanks to a drunken driver, two years before she was born. It was twins. One of the children survived almost a week before it died from the damage and from being born almost 3 months before its time.

In this reality, her mother died 2 years later, pregnant with a child. A drunken driver killed both her and the child that could have been her.  
Her brothers looked so handsome and happy. She blushed as one of them winked at her and from what she could see, they seemed to be real playboys.

Zeek laughed. "I think your brothers have less than brotherly feelings for you." That was so funny.

Rona scoffed. "They don't know who or what I am." She defended her family, even if it was not her REAL family.

Zeek nodded. "Let's go and talk to them." he said.

Rona jumped in surprise. "What?" she stuttered.

Zeek just grinned as he grabbed her jacked and lifted her to her feet.

The two twins paled as they saw the big burly dark haired and well trained man (even they could see he was a fighter and had a dangerous don't mess with me vibe oozing out of him) walked to them while holding the cute girl hanging from her jacket with one hand.

Rona growled from his grip. Both her legs and arms were hanging free and he held her at distance so she couldn't reach him. "You are dead Zeek, DEAD," she was threatening him.

Zeek ignored her as he walked up to the twins, giving them a smile that was all teeth. "Hi there, may we join you? My friend and I are strangers here. I was wondering if you two could show us around." He put Rona down again and quickly dodged a kick to the head. "Calm down Rona, calm down," he said.  
Rona growled angrily at him.

Zeek just smiled. "No fighting on the university grounds. It's the law," he smiled smugly.

The twins almost laughed at the face of the girl. It looked like she was going to explode in fury.

Zeek turned to them. "Rona over here has two older twin brothers. She misses them terribly. I wondered if you could show her around the place. We're going to be in town for a while and I have other affairs I have to take care of. Perhaps you'll be her honorary big brothers in the mean time," he said, finishing in a voice that clearly said 'OR I'll get angry'.

The twins blinked. "I'm Ronald" and the other "I'm Arnold." Together they said "And we are the Freeman brothers."  
Rona giggled. "I'm Rona." She blinked and then lied. "I'm Rona Jackson," she had always wondered why her parents named her Rona. Now she knew why. It was because of the twins that almost lived.

"Call me Ronald, Rona. I'm the smart one," Ronald said, smiling and flirting with her. His twin interrupted. "You have to call me Arnold. I'm the good locking one," he said.

Zeek grabbed both twins. "Take care of her now and be careful, she knows more about combat than I do."

Ronald and Arnold watched the dangerous man walk away. "He's kind of strange, isn't he?"

Rona nodded. "You have no idea and he is the least strange of our group."

Arnold blinked and changed the subject. "So what do you do anyway?"

Rona quickly pulled up the fake id they had made and showed it to them. It would probably fool most police officers. "Licensed bounty hunter and private detective," according to her fake ID she was 19, not 17.

The boys stared at the ID. She had a license to carry hidden weapons, that was so cool.

Rona put the ID away. "Zeek just wanted me to have some fun with people my own age. I'm one of the youngest," she lied again. Chloe and Anakin were actually younger.

Ronald nodded. "And if we do something stupid, you shoot us?" he said with a grin.

Rona nodded. "You bet your ass I will," she grinned and started to giggle.

Arnold cleared his throat. "So, why are you in town?"

Rona grinned. "Would you believe it's for a conference?" And she didn't even have to lie, as there was a weapons conference going on in town.

The twins just looked at her. "NO way." There was something odd about the girl. She looked like… Well, she looked almost like the picture they had of their mom.  
Arnold ignored that, but Ronald wondered. There had been irregularities with the body of their dead mother. What if the child she had been carrying, had survived and was stolen? It was an unborn girl.

She nodded. "Boring, so let's go do something normal," she said. Ronald had a strange look in his eyes. He looked like Dad when he tried to piece together a puzzle.

*

Different place at the same time

At first Anakin had been less than happy, that Xander, Jaina, Rona and Zeek had left them and gone to LA without them, but now…  
"Wheeee" he and twenty others screamed as the water splashed around them.

Disneyland rocked.

"Can we go to the magic kingdom later?" he asked Chloe, who was screaming just as loudly.

The two 15-16 years olds relaxed and had fun as only teenagers could when in Disneyland.

*

At the same time in Sunnyvale.

Where the school and most of Sunnydale should be, there was a peaceful lake. A natural canal connected it with the ocean a little further away. Xander liked it. No Hellmouth. The lake was a natural creation made by an earthquake.

Danni looked around. "So this is where you grew up. It looks different in your memory." she said. The holo and the makeup made her look different form her normal appearance. The normal red-skinned Zeltron looked more like an African-American.

Xander nodded. "It is different. MY Sunnydale doesn't have a lake like Sunnyvale has," he said.

Jaina smiled. It was nice and she liked it. Strange fruits were growing in row after row outside the town. Xander had said that were grapes. They made Earth wine from grapes.

Then they saw her.

Alexandra Harris, a black haired tomboy with bruised knuckles and a black eye.

Danni gasped. "She looks just like you," she said. The girl was younger than Xander was. Only 15 compared to his 19.

Jaina nodded. "Perhaps you were right to worry about her." She could hear Xander sighing. "There isn't anything I can do anyway."  
The girls were confused.

"Why?" Danni said. Jaina nodded "Yes, why?" she asked.

Xander looked sad. "This is her world. The only way I could help her would be to kidnap her and that would be wrong and what if I read the information wrong? Mom and Dad might not be drunks or abusive. Perhaps there are other reasons why they can't find good work." A deep breath: "And even if they are. How can I help her? She would never believe me if I told her I was her brother from an alternate reality and why should she?"

Danni nodded. What Xander said made sense. "If you believe in logic what you said is absolutely perfect. Its luck I don't believe in that." She smirked. "We can easily investigate. Between the three of us we have what we need to find out the truth." She grinned. She was a fully evolved Empath and the Jedi could copy that and even read minds if they were skilled in the mind arts.

Xander nodded slowly. "All right, let's investigate then."

*

Two days later

He hadn't expected this. PSI town. They lived in PSI town.

His family was a PSI and forced to live in a ghetto for second class citizens. R3 was sending background information he had found from the computers.

Tony Harris in this reality was as respected as a PSI could be. He had the psionic skill of PSYCHIC HEALING, the skill of healing himself and others, detect diseases, poison. Healing both himself and others, he even had minor skills in regeneration, and was training hard to master the skill of regenerating others. His skill in metabolism control of others had made Tony a master of helping the sick survive poisons and it had also made him immune to alcohol.

Xander was shocked. His dad the worthless drunk was a doctor, well, a psychic healer, but still.

Jessica Harris on the other hand was a weak TELEPATH, forced by the law to carry a sign that she was a PSI telepath. Jessica lived almost isolated in the Harris home. She was so weak that the government wouldn't even hire her for their telepath units. Nor would any of the big corporations in need of telepaths hire her. Instead, the government just kept an eye on her.

She sometimes worked with Tony, using her empathy to help children in the hospital. As a mind reader, she was feared. People didn't like the idea of mind-readers.  
Jaina returned from her mission. "I managed to corner some of Alexandra's friends. From what they said and I could sense, Alexandra is often fighting in school. They insult her mother and Boom. She used to hang out with a pair of older students, Jessie and Larry Blaisdell, both four years older. They tried to keep her from fighting, but they graduated last year."

Jaina looked up. "Apparently Alexandra is a latent psionic. Her skills so far indicate that she has a psycho kinesis power. She has mastered the psycho kinesis skill of damage resistance to physical damage and is training hard in learning to use it."

Danni came back. "Your dad is a real charmer," she said with a smile. "I had a long talk with him. He really is worried about Alexa. She constantly gets into trouble and keeps doing dangerous stunts trying to master her powers. He worries and she's hanging with the wrong crowd."

Xander frowned. "What crowd?"

Danni shook her head sadly. "The PSI freedom unity, they are a terrorist organization or so the government claims."

Xander sighed. "We should go. There's nothing we can do here to help them," he said.

Jaina frowned. "Are you sure?" she asked. Then she answered herself. "You are not sure."

Danni nodded. "Let's call Zeek and Rona and tell them we'll be staying a while. I'm sure Anakin and Chloe are having fun in the park land."

*

Later in Disney land

Chloe was nearly jumping up and down. "Yes, we get to stay longer."

Anakin grinned: "Party time!"

*

At the same time in a military base.

Hakon was amused and also impressed. Not by the military might they had, but of the Psionic humans they had.

As far as he knew, there had been only a handful of normal humans able to use psionics, more among the near-humans. The Zeltron's were working empaths and with training, they could evolve their powers. Most never did, instead they partied away their life. But on this Earth, there was a wealth of powerful psionics that were treated like secondhand citizens and, in some countries, as slaves.

The military mind talker was strong and skilled, but Hakon had been able to keep him out of his memory. Thankfully, they all thought the cybernetic implants inside of him were the reason. Using the Mind-talker as a translator, he claimed to have suffered a serious accident as a young man and that part of his brain was replaced.  
They believed him. They had o so many questions about his ship. Naturally, he offered to help them and help them he would. They had asked about his lightsaber and he claimed it was a ritual weapon only he could activate, worthless in real combat, but an emotional memory for him. It was good that he had the activation button on the inside of the hilt. Unless they welded it open and destroyed it, only the Force could open the hilt of his lightsaber. The screw heads were all on the inside. Without telekinetic powers, nothing would open or activate it.

After seeing it was only a blade of energy, they let him keep it. What good would an energy blade do against guns?

*

In L.A.

Rona frowned. "I hope Xander hasn't found trouble." she said.

Zeek shrugged. "Get ready, the twins asked us to come home for dinner." He glanced at Rona. "Remember, it's not your dad."

Outside Ronald gasped. Asking his friend in the technology club to bug their room was a good idea. His sister was alive. But who was Zeek and what should they do now? Both of them showed signs of being super-soldiers. They were faster and stronger than normal humans. Whoever stole their sister was involved in something big, perhaps a secret government organization or organized crime.

He had to tell Arnold.

*

Later

It took a day before he could arrange a meeting with Alexandra.

Xander, with Jaina beside him, watched the girl sitting in the Bronze, watching a game of dart being played. "Isn't it boring to just watch?" he asked, sitting down.  
The girl looked up. "Hey, why are you sitting at my table?" she growled at him. The shiny necklace with the mark of a PSI-Kinetic she always had to carry in plain sight glittered in the light of the room.

Xander shrugged. "Not too many tables. I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I and my girlfriend shared a table with you," he said, trying to sound friendly, but also using the Force to push the feeling of trust on the girl.

He hoped they would not detect his powers or mistake it as psi. "I'm Alexander, but please call me Xander. My girl is Jaina." He smiled.

"No fuck? I'm Alexandra. They call me Lexa." she said. "Do you have an ID?" She was suspicious.

Xander nodded as he gave her his bounty-detective license.

Lexa looked pensive. "What are you here for?" she asked, suspicious again. They always blamed Psionics whenever something went wrong.

You were driving drunk: "The PSI forced me to". Someone was murdered: "The PSI DID IT."

They always blame the psi, fucking cops.

Xander swallowed. "I'm just looking around. I might have blood relatives in town. I'm searching for them."

Lexa nodded, right. "So why are you talking to me then?" she asked, clearly hostile.

Xander sighed, time to take a chance. He removed his glasses and his eyes were glittering yellow and green. He used a weak Force push to push Lexa backwards in the seat. "Because your family might be related to me," he said.

Lexa was silent. He was a PSI, a rouge PSI. No, he had a license as a bounty-hunter and detective. Nothing said he was a PSI in that license. Either it was faked and he was rouge or he was government ops.

But he didn't look like government ops.

She was not a scared little girl, but this could end badly, really bad. "I see," she said. "What do you want with us?"

Xander took a deep breath. "I just wanted to see if my relatives were fine. If not, I wanted to see if I could help them." He smiled. "Nothing more." Looking around he could see two big men his age walking up to them.

Lexa grinned. "Jessie, Larry!" she waved her hand, making them come over.

The two were not looking all that friendly.

Jessie nodded a greeting. "I hope you are fine Lexa? Is that guy giving you trouble?" He was so tired of punks messing with Lexa. What the fuck does it matter that she's a Psi? She was just as human as the rest of them and nobody messes with Lexa.

Larry nodded. "Yeah, say the word Lexa and I'm going to give them a new face," he growled angrily. He hoped nothing happened, he was on a double date with Jesse  
and his date was so hot, the guy was a dream.

Lexa smiled. "It's nothing Larry. Jessie, they're friendly. I'm sure." she reassured her friends.

Jessie smiled as he ruffled her hair. "Sure sure." He turned to Xander and Jaina. "Listen, I have no idea what you two are doing, but she's under our protection," he  
growled out before leaving, he had a date and the girl, the sister of Larry's boyfriend, was a fox.

Lexa wanted to sink under the table. "Go you. Big lummox" she said. The two older guys nodded as they walked away. "I used to hang around them and followed them around when I was like 5 and they were 8 years old. They became my older brothers, overprotective older brothers," she said, blushing.

Xander nodded weakly. That was so like his Jessie that it was scary. He blinked seeing Larry kiss a guy and Jessie hug a girl who had been waiting beside the boy  
Larry was kissing.

Jaina smiled. "I think it's sweet. I have a twin brother and a younger brother myself." she said. Not to mention Uncle Chewbacca. Talk about an overprotective furball.  
Lexa nodded. "Brothers can be a pain," she said. Jaina nodded. "I remember how embarrassed Jacen was when Samy decided that she would be his girlfriend?" she giggled.

Lexa was intrigued. "What happened?"

Xander frowned. "You have to understand Samy. She's a force of nature. She walked up to him and started to kiss him and trying to take of his pants. It was quite fun to see," he explained.

Lexa blinked. "Um she sounds crazy."

Jaina shrugged. "Really, she is not that bad. Besides Danni, Sammy's half sister, decided she would become our girlfriend. Even though the two off us are married, we failed to escape her." she grinned.

Lexa giggled.

Xander shrugged.

*

Two days later

They had talked with Lexa for a long while. She wanted out of USA. She heard that Japan was the friendliest land to be if you were a psionic, but to get a travel license outside the country was difficult. Each and every PSI was considered a potential weapon during war.

The day after their meeting she had invited them to her home.

Jaina, using a small sensor, detected four listening devices. She quietly told Xander that and then prepared to jam them.

Tony was confused. His skills in healing let him sense the biology of others. That boy was not completely human. Yet part of him was related to him and Jessie.  
He could have been a brother to Lexa.

Jessie's senses were just confused as they started to talk.

It was a nice dinner.

Xander was impressed as Tony showed him the rewards he had earned as a professional healer. He was still improving his skills, learning to focus his psionic powers and growing in power.

Later that night the questions had come.

Xander nodded, as the bugs were silenced by Jaina's jammer, he showed them his gills, then opened up to the Force and used telepathy to talk to them and showed them a demonstration of his power. Telekinesis, telepathy and even letting lightning dance around his hand.

Last he showed them the strange rift he could create.

"I'm from an alternate reality. A reality I can return to. But I found out that I have people here who are related to me. Dimensional twins, if you will, so I'm offering all of you a chance to join me and become free." He started to show them the place he came from and even showed them his lightsaber.

A healer like Tony could easily become a rich man or at least a well paid person in their world.

They were overwhelmed.

Tony was curious. "Why are you staying here? Why not return home?"

Xander sighed. "A criminal named Hakon arrived at the same time we did. He is powerful, even all of us together would be hard pushed to take care of him."  
He flashed, moving at full Force speed to the other side of the room and like a blur he vanished and then reappeared. "He is faster and stronger than anything you ever saw. Hakon is also a mad man with the same ability I have of traveling across the voids."

Tony and Jessica, after seeing memories from his life, were impressed. Jessica hugged him, saying she was proud even if he was not her son.

Tony nodded. "I'm proud of you, son." If his wife said the boy's memory images were real, then it was all real. Telepaths like her were difficult to lie to and healers like him could sense the blood pressure inside a person and detect lies that way sometimes. Combined with the strange technology and powers the young man had showed, powers that felt different than those of a PSI, he had to believe him.

It felt like a wound inside Xander's heart suddenly healed. Those words from somebody that sounded like his mom and dad were a wonderful thing to hear.  
Even Lexa was impressed and excited by the possibility of being free. Could she? Would she?

*

Later

Something had gone wrong. Danni was running for her life.

PSI hunters were following her. Somehow a telepath discovered her and sent the hunters after her.  
Dodging the stun guns the Zeltron Jedi student rushed down an alley. It was a dead end. The hunters, four of them, came after her.

"Right, calm down and no funny tricks here." one said, aiming the stun gun.

Danni swallowed as she activated her lightsaber. The purple glow of the blade made the hunters stop. "Go away now or you will regret it." she said.

One of the hunters fired his gun, shooting stun arrows at the rouge. She waved her lightsaber, sending a Force push to parry the arrows.  
The Hunter was calling for backup. Five more joined them, this time with real guns. She would have to use her blaster pistol now.

Then help arrived.

Xander landed in front of her. He removed his glasses and looked at them, his eyes glowing yellow and green. "You wish to be somewhere else," he said, using mind manipulation.

Two walked away. Weak-minded, they decided to be somewhere else.

The others screamed "ROUGE Telepath" and activated a Psi scrambler. The primitive tool could jam psionic powers. Danni blinked a bit and wondered that her empathy skills were also jammed.

Xander raised an eyebrow as he raised his hand. The officer was lifted up in the air by invisible hands at his neck. "I said. Be somewhere else." Then Xander dropped him.

The hunters had now pulled out their real guns.

Xander sighed. "I didn't want to do this," he said as he activated his blades.

The bullets started to fly only to be stopped by the power of the Force. Cutt, slash, cutt slash. Cut off hands and cut off weapon parts started to land around Xander as he now stood behind the hunters.  
Screams of pain filled the alley.

"I told you to be somewhere else," he growled as he nodded to Danni. "Let's get out of here," he said simply.

She nodded.

Behind them the hunters were screaming for backup.

By the time it had arrived, Xander, Jaina and Danni were already walking away, cloaked and unseen.  
They had one more place to go before they left Sunnyvale.

*

A week later

Hakon had made his move. The time to fight or die was now.

*

Jessie and Larry stared in awe at the star-ship that lifted off in front of them. They had experienced 60 minutes of the worse world changing experience in their life.  
Xander Harris, near-human from an alternate dimension and a mirror version of their Lexa.

According to Xander, Jessie and Xander had been like Jessie and Larry were, brothers in all, but blood. The images and the story Xander had told them were spooky and weird. But Jessie said it was true. Her empathic ability told the difference between a lie and the truth.

Xander then told them about the vampires in his birth reality. How one of them had taken over Jesse's body and they made him attack Cordelia and Willow. Xander had to dust him to save the girls. He could understand why Xander would dust a vampire to save Cordelia, but why ANYBODY would want to save queen bitch Willow he could never understand.

It was a scary story, but Jesse believed him, perhaps it was the fact that he had a RED girl behind him, a starship, and yes the gills were also a good reason for him to trust Xander.

"One question, are all the girls in the space universe that beautiful?" he said, looking at Xander's crew.

Rona, Chloe, Jaina, Danni, all foxes pure and simple, woof rating of 20 points on a 10 point scale. He ignored Anakin and Zeek.

Xander had laughed. "No Jess, but some of them are. I had to say goodbye, even if you aren't my brother. Its… I had to say goodbye and I'm glad that you watched over Lexa. When the vampire-Jessie came, I almost failed. The girls almost died because he was my brother. Then I dusted him and it was a nightmare seeing his or your face turn to dust in front of me. I just wanted to say I'm sorry that it happened. I'm sorry I was too weak to save you," he said.  
Larry dried some tears. That was so tragic.

Jessie swallowed. "I. I think if your version of me was anything like me, he would have kicked your ass right now."

Xander blinked, his eyes screaming WTF. "It was a vampire, not him you dusted. You saved Cordelia," he said with emotion, that girl is an angel, and added "And Queen Willow" with less emotion. "Get over it. He would have been proud that you did it."

Xander took a deep breath. "I hope so. Thanks, it's been like a stone weight on my heart for such a long time now." He looked at Larry. "Good to see you also. In our reality we hardly knew each other, but my version of you did more than once watch my back." he said, although not mentioning it was only during the showers after gym that Larry had watched his back.

Larry nodded. "Great to know," he smiled, wondering if that Larry had helped Xander fight vampires or just watched his back during showers in the gym. He liked doing that.

Lexa hugged them as she climbed on board, followed by her family. For good or bad, they were leaving to join a more accepting world.

The alien star ship shivered as it cloaked and vanished.

Jessie whistled. "That's so Star Trek."

Larry shook his head. "Na, this is more like Dr Geels' ship from Ultimate Space," he said.

Jessie shivered, "That's SO a Star Trek rip off."

*

Later

They landed in Colorado, outside of a small town near a military base and Hakon was waiting.

Xander gave orders to his crew. "Rona, Chloe and Danni, stay on the ship. My powers of the rift are changing and I think once he is dead, I have minutes or maybe just seconds to open a gate home again. After that the power will be permanently gone," or be permanently a part of him.

They nodded.

Hakon was hunting Xander, which was good, after all Xander was hunting Hakon.

Ignoring the stunned looks at the military base as the four Jedi dressed in their armors passed them by was interesting.

Xander's green and black flexible armor looked like biker protection, but with a hard shell, much like his yellow green chest piece protecting his upper body. Hard shell armor pieces were on his shoulders pads and gauntlets. The cloak behind him was black and he wore a dark green helmet with a yellow visor. The soldiers didn't even think to laugh at that bizarre armor, as the person wearing it moved faster than they could ride a bike. Beside him in a similar, but black version, was a female.  
After them in a full black body suite with a white shell like armor over his chest was another man. The helmet was simple black with a blue visor. He too had a cloak in a blue and black combination.

The last man wore simple hard shell armor over most of his body.

They all moved faster than a bike.

Psionic, it had to be psionic.

The soldiers called for reinforcements.

Zeek in his simple bounty hunter armor frowned. "The troopers could get in the way."

Xander shrugged. "That's what Hakon is counting on. He wants us to make a mistake protecting the innocent."  
Jaina swallowed. "And what are we going to do?" she said.

Xander smiled. "He's never faced earthlings before." There, he found it. "This way" he said, turning right.

They stopped in front of sixteen soldiers with weapons aimed at them.

"I need to talk to the man in charge." he said simply while opening his visor. His eyes were glowing inside.

Four minutes later a major arrived. "What are your reasons to be here, alien?" he said. A starship had been spotted cloaking and uncloaking in California and nearby the mountain.

Xander smiled. "Thanks for letting me talk. Mr." - he read the name and insignia on the man's uniform - "Mayor Abbot. The reason is simple. We are hunting a criminal named Hakon. He like us has great powers, similar to what you call Psionic." He looked at a telepath trying to enter his mind. Focusing his power he sent a mild Force push at the telepath and made him tumble down. "But not as limited. What I want is simple. Remove the civilians from the area. Hakon is a psychopath and is going to use whatever he can and needs to destroy us and you."

The Mayor snored. "What makes you think, that we don't have the situation under control?" He leaned forward. "What makes you think you will be able to walk out of here?" he asked with a sinister smile.

Xander nodded. "Good questions and a simple answer. Your men are trained the wrong way and have the wrong weapons," he said, looking the man in the eyes. A battle of domination started between their wills.

Major Abbot slowly backed down. Intimidating this guy wouldn't work. He waved to one of the snipers to take him down. A sudden wave in the air was all the warning they got, then a bullet was floating just in front of Xander.

"Like I said," Xander explained. "You have the wrong weapons," he pulled up his own Thunderer and pulled the trigger once, making part of the tree the sniper was up in explode. "Use grenades if you have to, but otherwise Hakon is stronger than I am. Now evacuate the civilians before Hakon kills them," he said as they vanished in the trees. Using Force jump Xander, Jaina and Zeek moved quickly forward.

Zeek was puzzled. "So what was that about, intimidating the locals?" he asked.

Jaina shook her head. "No, that's not it, right Xander?" she said.

Xander nodded. "I wanted the Major to start evacuating the civilians and soldiers so I intimidated him a bit," he grinned. "As any military he will remove the civilians, probably he already has, but keep the military around to catch us if he can. The moment we start fighting Hakon, he will evacuate them."

Zeek swallowed. "You think it's going to be that big a fight?" he asked.

Xander nodded. "I believe so. NO hold backs. This universe hasn't all that many Force users. Haven't you felt it? It's over powering us, strengthening us. It's like its testing us to see if the idea of mortal wielders is a good idea to have."

Zeek nodded. "I felt stronger in the Force, but didn't understand why," he said, sounding nervous.  
If Xander truly was a Jedi Master and Hakon also was a dark Jedi Master and they were both supercharged, then this fight would be destructive to say the least.  
He took a peek at Jaina. She was powerful, Xander's equal. By all means, she should also be a Jedi Master, if power alone was the key to becoming one. It had confused him at first, how much stronger Jaina felt compared to Jacen, but not anymore. Xander was unlike any Jedi he had ever been near. When Xander showed you things, you learned. The guy had a way of teaching that Zeek was astonish of. Combine that with the Force ghosts that visited him and Zeek would not be surprised if Xander had a larger number of Force skills than Luke or at least an equal to the number of skills Luke had.

Then there is his ability to use TWO light-blades in combat. It was rare to be able to combine the physical skill of using two blades the same time with the paranormal skills of precognition needed for the lightsabers to be effective weapons. Xander used the Force on both blades at the same time during combat and he had showed Jaina how to split her concentration into two different blades. Yet Jaina still used only one blade, since it was less complicated during combat.

Splitting his concentration on two different light-blades was something Zeek had only seen Luke do before and even Luke normally only uses one lightsaber.  
Xander played around sometimes, using a double-bladed lightsaber or a single one. Sometimes, he used a light-dagger lightsaber combination and at other times a pair of lightsabers. He even used a great-light-saber during training. Having a lightsaber which could change it size from normal to up to 2 meter long was more a gimmick than an effective weapon. Most used the Great-light-saber as a tool to take down groups of enemies fast or to Force a more skilled enemy to keep his distance. In real lightsaber combat it wasn't a good weapon, too long. But in Xander's hand the great-lightsaber moved with scary efficiency. Zeek would not be surprised if he could actually use it in combat.

There he was.

Standing on the top of a rocky hill was Hakon, waiting for them.

All of them jumped and landed on the other side of the hill.

Click, Hiss Click, Hiss Xander's light blades were activated.  
Click, Hiss Jaina turned her blade on.  
Click, hiss Zeek activated his blade.  
Click, Hiss Anakin activated his blade.  
Click, hiss and so did Hakon.

No words were said.

Xander and Hakon were all that mattered, as they looked into each other's eyes, trying to dominate the other. Around them the ground started to quake, the rocks were crumbling.

Black and red lightning danced around Hakon's body as he pulled the power of the dark side into his body. Xander was glowing in a mystical light as he used Force light to enhance himself and protect his allies. The battle of dominion continued as they attacked each other mind to mind, trying to crush the others brain or heart from a distance.

From the distance the sniper team looked on in awe and fear filled their hearts. The PSI pyrokinetic swallowed. "You expect me to fight THEM?" A man USA secret service described as a living nuke on two legs was afraid of these alien fighters.

The live transmission to Major Abbot made the man worry. "Call the flyboys. Prepare for emergency evacuation." This would not go well.  
On the rocky hill the battle faze started.

They moved.

Whoever moved first, nobody knew.

So deep inside the others mind they were that it could have been the enemy's idea of attacking that made the other one move.

Hiss, the two blades of Xander meet Hakon's single blade. Pushing Hakon down with all his might, the two struggled for dominion. Both had improved bodies. Stone lifted and exploded around them as they used any rock as a missile.

Hakon was faster, stronger and more skilled, he was winning again.

Jaina swore as she waved her hands, creating shockwaves around them, pushing the missiles away from Xander and then she too joined the battle.  
Anakin waved his hand, sending a rain of dirt and rocks down on Hakon who just shielded himself against the missiles.

Drawing as much as she could on the Force, Jaina joined the battle.

Zeek blinked, Hakon, Jaina and Xander were 50 meters away. He blinked again. Anakin, Jaina and Hakon were 200 meters way. He blinked, Hakon, Anakin and Xander were 60 meter away. "Sith spit" he said, remembering what Xander said about being overcharged by the Force.

Zeek pulled the Force inside of him and moved, faster than he had ever moved before, then he attacked. Each slash was used to send a rain of missiles down on Hakon. Then dodge the return attack.

Xander was parrying, dodging and attacking, but also blocking all at the same time. Jaina was moving like water in a storm, blocking, dodging and blocking any attack on herself and most of the attacks on Anakin.

But in some she was too late.

Anakin flew through the air from the Force push Hakon had sent towards him. He rolled around, correcting himself face up.

Then the hill exploded like a bomb under their feet as Hakon jumped to safety, shortly followed by Jaina.

Xander shielded Zeek and himself from the brunt of the explosion as the two jumped after Hakon.

Cuts and wounds, Xander was sure he had a fractured bone somewhere.

Zeek's jaw bone looked broken. No, just some teeth were seen as the flesh was cut open. Part of the skin was hanging like a mustache or a beard from his face. You could see right into his mouth.

Hakon cut and slashed, but the girl was good at Soresue the defensive form, really good. She held her own a short while with her brother's help. The two were being overpowered by his skill and strength.

No more would Hakon tease them and play with them. HE would show them what a real Darksider could do. Thunder and lightning stroke them as he attacked. Pain and wounds appeared as the lightning was slowly burning the armor away.

Then from the Centrum of the explosion, Xander and Zeek came jumping out.

Both looked bloody and dirty, but alive.

A wild fearsome attack by Xander followed by Anakin with Zeek trying to send rocks at him and while Jaina tried to parry any attack Hakon did.

Xander attacked with a fast slash, but Hakon parried, stab, Hakon dodged to the side, cut, Hakon parried, slash, Hakon blocked, stab, Hakon jumped back instead of blocking. But Xander's lightsaber suddenly became a great sword from 1 meter long into a 2 meter long blade.

Hakon was not prepared for that. "Argh…" he screamed out as the blade was pushed right inside his chest and out on the other side. They cheated.  
In the middle of the fight, Xander had changed the rules of combat. "You, you tricked me." he said. Rage filled him as he pulled in more and more power. If he was going to die, then he would die with a bang.

Xander flinched. "Oh ouh."

Jaina nodded. "RUN" she screamed.

Hakon screamed "DIE", creating a massive Force Scream.

Anakin jumped, pulling as much speed as he could.

The vibrations started as the buildup began.

In seconds, Tick tock.

Nobody should have had the time to move, but Xander and Jaina did somehow move faster than they should.  
Anakin had a short lead on them, but they were gaining.

Zeek followed from the other side. Tick tock. He was too slow in shielding himself in the Force, he jumped down in a crevasse to shield himself.

Tick tock.

Tick tock

They were too close. Jaina swallowed as she looked at Xander and now they would die.

Like an overcharged atomic bomb tick tock, Hakon exploded.

A mighty roar was heard as Xander looked up. He grabbed Jaina and jumped, followed by Anakin.

BOOM the dark Jedi overcharged by the darkside exploded. Sending waves of energy around him, crushing the hill and parts of the mountains, fire and darkness raged as it ripped open a rift in the universe.

Nobody anywhere around him in a 9 km radius could or would survive.

End of Knight away

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Just kidding….there are still a few pages in this story *g*

**45. 11-3**

Note: Now for real, the end of Knight away. I hope you all enjoyed it like we did. So here are my last thanks for this story to Inachis for her work to go all over it again and make it more readable than before.

11-3

The engines off the Enterprise roared out their protest as the military grade shield cracked and fractured from the energy wave that came against them.  
"I can't hold it!" screamed Danni from the co-pilot seat.

"Get out of the way." Jaina said as she jumped into the co-pilot seat.

Xander more or less lifted Rona out of his place and set himself down in the pilot's seat. "Thanks" he said. They had seen the Enterprise at the last second, flying in low with the hanger door open. They jumped in and were saved.

The energy field, destroying mountains, hit the ship as they dived and dodged the whipping blades of energy, dancing in and out from the rift. Chloe stared at the sensors pale faced; they said the rift was growing faster and faster. In less than one hour it would devour the whole planet unless somebody closed it and soon.  
Outside the ship a rift had opened. "WE will not fly away from that. It's a rift. It's either go inside and close it up or stay outside and die as Earth is ripped asunder." Xander said as he turned the Enterprise around. "Drive her," he said to Jaina.

Inside the rift the energies attacked the ship less and less as Xander took control, willing the rift to return them home and to close for forever behind them. Blood was pouring out of his nose and ears as small blood vessels were torn by the energies raging inside his body.

A huge explosion reverberated through hyperspace as the Enterprise returned to normal space.

Jaina swallowed, even as she activated the hyperspace-transmitter. Listening to the voices, communications, she slowly started to smile. "We're home again." Reaching out with the Force she could feel Jacen and mom, right back where it all started.

Rona looked around. "Where is Zeek?" she asked.

Anakin looked down as he too joined them. "I'm sorry. He vanished during the explosion." They all moved so fast and Zeek was on the other side of the darksider and moving in the wrong direction.

"No!" Rona screamed as she started to cry. She had liked him.

Jaina and Chloe joined Rona in crying, even Anakin did. Xander looked sad. It was his fault.

*

At the same time in an alternate dimension.

He was dead he knew it.

Joy filled -Do you wish to live?- hateful -Do you wish to live?- One voice spoke with two emotions. No, two emotions spoke with one voice. Zeek was not sure.

Joy filled said -Teach them about me- hateful said –Teach them about me-

And Zeek screamed in pain as his body was repaired.

Joy filled and hateful said –Teach them about the power of the FORCE-

He was standing in a crater all alone and more powerful than ever before. He felt it around the world: war, starvation and a growing separation between those with psionic powers and those without. He felt the future path of self destruction for this world unless something happened to change things, but they had no idea of unity. No sense that could join them together and remind them that they were alive, that they were one. Earth was balancing on the very edge of self annihilation. It was the time of greatest despair.

-And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as: THE SON OF THE SUNS,-  
(Quote: Journal of the Wills, George Lucas' second draft of "The adventures of the Starkiller".)

And in a galaxy not that far away in a dimension different than our own a new legend was born, as Zeek created a legacy that would walk among the stars to the end of time.

*

Later on Shesharile 5 at the Jedi mansion

The Enterprise sat side by side with the Millennium Falcon. The two ships were hurt by battle, yet stronger than most ships twice their size. Both ships carried a legend to where ever they went and the legend of the Enterprise was growing each day.

The ship of Jedi Master Alexander Harris Solo and Jedi Knight Jaina Organa Solo, it was a ship that legend said was invincible in battle, its armor and shield stronger than a destroyer's and its weapons capable of destroying anything in its path. Inside, it could hold a squadron worth of fighters and was invisible whenever the Jedi Master wanted it to be.

The rumors of its size varied a great deal. Some said the Enterprise was the size of a star-destroyer and others said it was a Ghtroc, nothing more. Right now it looked like a tired old turtle finally able to rest as the hare had gone home after the race.

The mansion was full of happy people.

Han Solo, Jedi Knight Leia Organa Solo, Chewbacca, Amanda, Jacen Organa Solo, Lowbacka, Samy, Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade Skywalker and Ben Skywalker, although he was too small to really care, he was just happy in any case as babies mostly are.

Lowbacka, Kyle Katarn, Robin Wood and even some Jensaarai were there.

Each of them had felt how the crew of the Enterprise had vanished from the universe and believed that they were dead.  
Now they had come here to meet them.

Jaina, Anakin, Danni, Rona and Chloe all rushed out from the ship to talk to their family, followed by the Harris family from the alternate reality, Tony Harris, Jessica Harris and Lexa Harris.

Xander walked out, petting the side of his ship. He felt something, an emotion he was slightly unsure of. "You saved us all girl. I'm proud of you," he said to the ship. It was love. He loved his ship. The hours he spent in it, the time and pain he, Jaina, Lowbacka and Anakin had taken to improve her. Even the Force Alchemy rituals he and Jaina had done to endow the ship with the Force. It was not as sensitive as a lightsaber or his armor was, but he could feel if anything was wrong in the ship, when it was hurt and how bad. Improving the Enterprise by alchemy would be a continuing process, unlike the armor, she was too big to do it in one single ritual, and she had saved them all. Faced the darkest void of destruction and carried them home. "Just rest girl, we'll start fixing you up again as soon as we can," he said, turning away to join the others.

Hidden by the dark shadow of the Falcon, Han stood up. "That's words only a real captain speaks. Jedi or Sith wave their little light-sticks and make things fly around and believe they know the secret of the universe." He snorted as he petted his ship.

"They know nothing. They claim this is nothing, but a machine, built, created and maintained by a skilled pilot and crew. We know the real secret, Xander. It's alive, just as alive as you or me." He padded his son in law's shoulder.

"Remember that secret. Always treat you ship as part of your family and she will carry you, your friends and family home where ever you may go. That is the true magic of a ship."

Xander nodded. "Thanks." He looked at Han. "My Enterprise is greater than your Falcon though, old man," he said with a smile.

Han snorted. "You ungrateful asshole, let me tell you something about my Falcon…" The two walked out, arguing and smiling the whole way.  
After a big welcome dinner, made by the chef droids, they walked down to the sea. Burning candles floated away as they all gathered around the sea shore, saying their farewells to one of their own, lost far away.

Zeek, Jedi Knight and hero, may he never be forgotten.

Leia cried as she remembered the young man. It was so sad when a young man died and vanished without leaving a trace in history.

*

Later in the evening

Xander was doing some unarmed katas, mostly just remembering the moves and refreshing them in his mind. He didn't need the lightsaber to do that now. Luke watched him in awe. The young man was moving so fast in skills. Hakon was a master, perhaps on the same level of skill that he himself was. Yet Xander and gang  
had managed to defeat him.

Some would say it was trickery, but there are no real tricks that work, if you listen to the Force. Hakon would have listened and been warned unless that warning was distracted or the danger was hidden by a sneaky, but powerful young Jedi master.

"The Alliance is talking about the first draft to create the Federation," Luke said, leaning on the balcony.

Xander nodded. "I see, impressive. You made them work fast then."

Luke shrugged. "Not really, talked to the right persons and had them do the work for me." He smiled. "It's not much, but it's a beginning. We Jedi have fewer burdens on us as the Federation is a politically looser and more free creation than the Republic was."

Xander stopped dancing around in mock combat. "And less easy to be destroyed by corruption." he finished.

Luke agreed. "Exactly," he looked around. "It's a nice place. The Jedi Council has asked me to inform you that, if you wish, you have our blessing to build your own Jedi training academy."

Xander looked at him and nodded. "I see. I have to ask Jaina about that. Are they going to declare Jaina a Jedi master?" he asked Luke, who nodded. "She is ready. We can all feel that. Are the ghosts back?" he asked Xander.

Xander snorted. "Yeah, I had a long talk with them. Good to know I have friends in the afterlife who are worried."

Luke nodded. "Your dimensional powers, are they still there?" he asked, hoping the kid would give him the answer he wanted.

Xander shook his head. "No, Hakon was tied to the rift. Once he died, my powers started to vanish and now they are gone." he lied. The void was still there. Anytime he wanted to, he could leave this reality. It scared him, but also exited him. The possibilities for vacations were interesting.

Luke looked relived. At least the boy lied about that. If only they really had been gone. It would be so much safer then, but he suspected that Alexander would always be a source of chaos.

*

The next day arrived in its own time.

26 hour days would take some time to get used to, Tony Harris thought as he and Jessica walked down for breakfast.

"It's fucking unfair." Lexa said, irritated, already at the breakfast table.

Xander shrugged. "Well, you have to learn Basic to survive and other standard skills most humans know or they will believe you are an uneducated fool."  
Lexa sighed. Xander was right, being 15 she would have it easier to learn than her mom and dad. They were like Stone Age, but it was still unfair.

Jaina interrupted her train of thought. "They said you had mastered some of your psionic psychokinetic powers, tell me what they are," she asked.  
Lexa, always the tomboy, lighted up in joy of bragging, "Sure." She looked around the table, finding a fitting target. "Tell the young hair ball to move," she said, focusing on Lowbacka.

Lowbacka frowned and started to move. It felt like something was holding him back, something weak. He shrugged and started to eat.

Lexa frowned. "What the… Hey, he isn't supposed to be able to move when I use the binding skill on him."

Xander laughed. "Wookiees are among the strongest beings that exist. Easily around 6-7 times as strong as a human their size is." He studied her. "How strong is your binding?"

Lexa shrugged. "Um really strong guys could almost break it." No wonder the furry ape could break her binding.

Lowbacka honked and growled something. That was still impressive.

Jaina translated. "He understands, but is unable to speak English, unlike most at this table. He wishes to see if you have another skill you can use."

Lexa nodded, now she would show them. She turned about and then frowned. "Who among you lack super strength?" she asked.

Xander pointed them out.

Lexa nodded, right. "You tell Han to hit me," she said as she focused. This was a hard skill, extremely hard to do.

Xander translated. Han was about to protest when he saw the look in the kid's eye. She wanted this to demonstrate something. Luke nodded, do it.

Han Solo nodded, but he still felt like a Hutt, all slimy and disgusting, as he hit the girl, aiming at a non critical area of her body. His hand stopped against his will about half a centimeter from her shoulder.

Her face shone in pride. "That's my TK shield. I've almost mastered it," she said with joy.

Xander laughed, he could feel the joy from her. "I'm proud of you. What can the TK-shield do?"

She eagerly explained. "It can stop almost anything. Well, it can stop motion in physical objects. The greater the motion, the more draining it is for me. A Master in TK-shield that has a strong psychokinesis power could stop bullets using it."

She shivered. "Not to many bullets, an automatic gun would drain his strength as each object you stop drains your energy. The great thing about a TK-Shield is that once you've really mastered it and vibration sense, the TK-shield activates directly if something moves to fast against you."

Jaina nodded. "And you haven't learned the vibration sense yet?" The girl shook her head and said, "Not yet".

Getting the translation, the others at the table were interested, but Han reminded her that out here, they use blaster energy weapons. So be careful kid and if what she said about how draining it was to use the shield, real powerful beings like Chewbacca could overpower it.

Breakfast was soon over in the house as they moved away to their different interests. Tony confronted Xander about what he would do now, he was not some drunk lay about he was a healer.

Xander smirked about that. "Don't worry, dad. I can call you that, right?"

Tony grinned. "Sure son." he said with pride. He had a son. Sure, he had been born in an alternate reality and was part fish, but still his boy.

Xander smiled. "Jaina and I are planning on building a small Jedi school here. Nothing big, but a small number of students will train here, together with other Force Rangers and Force Guardians. We have healer droids, they're like a doctor, dad. I talked to it about your ability and it is extremely curious to see if you can help it to improve its ability to heal wounded and if you learn the power of re-growth, then you can replace body parts without cybertech."

Tony nodded. "So, I'll be working for you then?" he asked.

Xander shrugged. "Not really, more for the Jedi order. Jaina and I just happened to be in charge on this world, but once you have created an identity as a doctor and healer, you could work anywhere you want to. Until then, the Jedi order is going to help you learn what you need and let you work for us. Your pay will be almost as high as that of a doctor. Once you master and can talk and read Basic, it'll be equal to a doctor specialist in humans."

Tony smiled. "Thanks."

Xander nodded. "I'm wondering if Jessica, mom, would like to help you. An empath like her would be a great boon in the medical room, and I also heard she's a great gardener?"

Tony nodded. "Yes, she's great in the garden. Why?"

Xander grinned. "The only way for me to make ketchup is to grow my own tomatoes. I need somebody to help me grow them. I don't trust the garden droid, not with this."

Behind them Lexa and Jessica giggled. "It would be my pleasure to take on those positions." Jessica said. A life without ketchup sounded awful. She hoped they had pasta at least.

Xander beamed a smile. "Thanks mom." he said in a shy voice. This version of mom and dad was a great improvement to his real ones. He wondered how much was the fault of the Hellmouth or just the fault of bad character traits.

*

A month later

At the top of the roof terrace Jaina and Xander watched the big gas giant block out the sun. The Long Night had started, just as it would once every other month, 28 hours of night before it would be a normal day again.

Natives of Shesharile considered that to be a time for laziness. By tradition no one could be considered lazy or come to work too late, no matter what they did. If you were late anywhere, it was the Long Night's fault, as long as you eventually got there. Coming on time during the Long Night was to break a tradition.  
Danni, Jaina and Xander completely agreed, as they were late to a meeting. The threesome had taken longer than expected.

More potential Jedi candidates to interview and a Jedi that Luke had send them to help with the training. Eventually they decided that, discovering how late it was, they would use their Starslinger swoops to get there.

It was an interesting test of the character of the new students, having to wait for two hours.

The space port was like always, a constant anthill of activity. In one corner, huddled up together, was a crowd of young irritated students. The only answer they got from the locals was 'it's the Long Night's fault'. What the Sith spit was the Long Night anyway?

Finally they saw, just outside in the parking lot, a pair of swoops coming down. The twin ions glowed red a moment before the swoops landed.

The drivers were dressed in flexible body armor, the male in green and black and the female in pure black. The young Jedi Knight sent by Luke to help with the training said with a relieved sigh, "That's Jedi Master Xander Harris Solo and his wife."

Many of the students protested at that: they are too young, they are late, have bad discipline and no respect of their students.

The asshole had made him wait two hours, But he wasn't really angry, amused more liked it. He'd read up on the local tradition of the Long Night. Xander and Jaina's test was amusing to him. Irritating, but amusing.

As the two entered, they grinned. "Hi there," Jaina looked around and started to smile. "Tahiri, look, it's Tahiri Veila." Xander smiled as his wife hurried over to the young girl. She was a year younger than Anakin and she and Anakin were old friends. "Are you a Knight or one of our students?" she asked after hugging the young girl.

Tahiri smiled. "I'm a student. Master Luke said I was almost ready to take the test, but he felt I would become a better Knight if I trained with you a while before that."

"Indeed and hi there," Xander said to the other Jedi he recognized somewhat.

The young man sighed, "Jedi Knight Jaden Korr."

Xander eyes lighted up. "You're the one Master Kyle always talks about. It's an honor to have you here."

Finally, as the four talked, one of the students exploded in irritation. "Hey what about us?" he asked.

Xander hid his smile. Finally one of them had taken action.

He turned around, eyes glowing yellow and green. "You interrupt your master?"

The young student swallowed as he backed away.

Xander grinned. "That's good." The students blinked, as their master changed his behavior. "We were testing each of you, seeing how you would deal with a Master coming too late and ignoring you."

One young something girl swallowed, she was an alien of a species which looked like a humanoid cat. "So, did we others fail?" she asked, glancing at the younger teen boy that had yelled. Xander smiled warmly. "None of you has failed. It was a test to help me learn about you and it was also a lesson. Once every two months or so, the planet passes behind the gas giant and the Long Night starts. During that night it's custom to be late, it's the Long Night's fault. If you are on time, most will look at you like you're crazy." He could see the stunned looks on the faces of the newcomers.

Jaina giggled. "In the beginning it was so frustrating. You had a meeting with somebody and they would be an hour late and surprised that you were irritated. It's the Long Night's fault after all."

Jaden nodded. "That's a good lesson to learn, students. Most planets have some strange habits and traditions that outsiders consider idiotic and frustrating, but they keep doing it and you should respect that. So learn and adapt."

Xander and Jaina nodded. He seemed like a fitting teacher. Most of their students were between ages around 18 something and only 12 years old.

The teachers would be Biije, the Bith Jedi as he was still there, Jaden, Jaina and himself. They also had the luck of getting Lowbacka back.

Rona and Chloe would help with Riley as teachers in combat. Biije would be helpful, since his skill, as a diplomat was impressive. Because of a genetic disorder Biije was also a complete pacifist, unable to hurt others even in self defense. He did compensate in other areas such like diplomacy and knowledge on just about anything.

A small Jedi academy, combined with the "I show you and demonstrate and you learn by yourself method," Luke used, it was easy. It took time, most hang around years before they were able to go further, while some like him, Jaina and Jacen had flourished. Once they had learned enough, they would get a Jedi Knight to teach them privately.

As the repulsor buss they had hired was filled up by the students and Jedi, Xander smiled as he wondered how his life would have been if he had remained with Buffy and Willow. He could sense things of the future, great and terrible things, things of joy and love, things of war and terror. In some of his students he could see the mirror image of their futures, light and dark, life or death, shifting all the time. Whatever they would finally become, it would be interesting to see. He could see the Federation of Allied Planets, which he served as a Jedi, growing slowly. In a millennium it would fill the Galaxy, just like the Republic before it. Peace would return.  
It felt like a great life.

Xander smiled as he kissed Jaina. No, it's a wonderful life.

*

Light years away the forces of light and dark faced each other in the shadows. Unseen, they grew stronger as they moved closer and closer. They brought the Republic down to a petty dictatorship, now it would be the Federation's turn. The shadow of the darkside would forever rule or destroy those that stood against it.

The end

Appendix

"Willow?" Buffy wondered from her sitting position on a tied up vampire.

Willow turned to look at her. "Yes, what is?" she asked.

Buffy grumbled. "I'm beginning to get tired of capturing suckers. I hope this one knows more about Glory," she said, depressed, as she hit the tied up sucker on the head.

Dawn smiled. "I'm sure we'll find out more sooner or later." They had to find out more about the Key and the Hell Goddess and how they could stop the hell bitch or destroy the Key. They just had to. She and Giles were looking everywhere, in so many dusty books she was sure that she would developed deadly asthma or cancer and die a 15 year old virgin. "If the monks only told us where they hid the Key it would all be over. Just destroy it and we're safe. Right?" she said.

Willow swallowed. "Um right Dawny, right," she said. No way would she tell Dawn that she is the Key and never ever would they destroy her.

Buffy looked at her friend and Neo-sister and quickly changed the subject. "Do you ever wonder what happened to Xander?" she asked.

Willow nodded. "I do. What about you Dawn?" she said.

Dawn frowned. "I wish we could all see how he's doing." she said, sulking a little. They were hiding something from her.

Under Buffy's feet the tied up vampire croaked out. "I wish that too." If the girls were seeing their missing friend, less chance they would beat him up and dust him.  
The vengeance demon sighed in relief. After hanging and sneaking around them for four days, waiting for the right moment, this would most likely be the best she could get. "Wish granted." Now with the Key gone, Glory could no longer destroy Earth and the quest to enslave Earth to the forces of evil could continue. It was good to save the world sometimes.

Willow and Buffy screamed as magic and slayer spirit vanished from their body and strange dimensional powers from the Key filled them up to keep them alive during the journey. The vampire gurgled in pain as the blood demon inside of him was ripped away and the dimensional power of the Key filled him and kept his body going as well.

Dawn screamed the most, as blood was drawn and the dimensional Key inside her exploded with power as it was used to force open a gate and to keep her fellow travelers alive in a universe they were unable to survive in normally.

The four of them vanished to an alternate reality.

The Vengeance demon grinned. "Mission accomplished," she said, then screamed in pain herself as the essence of a blood demon and the Slayer Spirit destroyed her before the two vanished away to their rightful places. (In Hell with the other blood demon and inside Faith the vampire slayer)

They landed with a crash in a living room.

Rona, Chloe, Amanda, Riley, Danni, Tony, Jessica, Lexa, Jaina, Xander, Lowbacka, Jaden and Biije stared in surprise. It would be one of those days again.  
From the intruders could be heard a scared "Buffy look. Demons."

Then a fight started or would have, except the three girls collapsed as their bodies adapted and mutated to the power of the Force.  
Outside a body was washed away by the sea. It was mutating, changing to adapt to the new reality. Inside it was a void, empty and ready to be filled by the powerful destructive power of the darkside.

Appendix 2

"My Lady, our ships are ready." A soldier dressed in a simple grey uniform said as he bowed down at the cybernetic enchanted female in front of him.

Her smile, hidden by cloth, was more the kind of smile that could scare a great white shark to become a vegetarian than one at home on a human face. "Send out the scouts. It's time we fracture the New Jedi Order. Destroy them, attack them were they are weak."

Lady Lumiya was on the move. The Republic was crushed and she so wished that she could have taken the honor for that, but all she did was help the fools to destroy themselves. Now the galaxy would burn, as the new Sith empire was rising from the ashes of the old.

FIN


End file.
